Beauty Hidden Within the Darkness
by Silverfurred
Summary: "Fly, little bird. Fly fast far from me. If you can escape, then I'll set you free." His voice darkened and his eyes reddened as the rhyme continued. "Quickly now Love, you must mind your time. For every moment you loose, the sooner you'll become mine."
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey. So this is my first time posting on Fan Fiction. I needed an outlet for writing so i decided to give it a try. This is a story i was working on a while back and i haven't really gotten written too much of it. Suggestions are great and I would like to hear what people have to say about this story. It is just for fun. This is rated MA according to the guidelines that was in the PUBLISH section. Just to be safe. This has ADULT CONTENT therefore if you are under aged then look elsewhere.**_

_**This first chapter contains rape (I'm actually not sure what to call it. It's more along the lines of being molested than raped...) So I'm just warning you. If you don't like it, don't read it please.

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_Right. So this is a newer author's note than the one above. I was just reading some really nasty copyrighting stories that came from one of the authors of one of the stories that I like. But thanks to some BITCH she has to take it down cuz this other girl stole it and posted it on another site. Not only that, but the same evil girl has stolen the works of OTHER AUTHORS. So if anyone would like to know..._

**THIS HAS BEEN COPYWRITTEN! IT'S MINE SO FIND YOUR OWN INSPIRATION!**

_That should be pretty clear._

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I sat at home reading. It was early July and the night was warm and muggy. But I had the air conditioner cranking. There was no way I was going to listen to my Dad's recommendation and keep the temperature at 75 degrees. Ha, he was delusional. He wanted to save money; I wanted to not die of heatstroke. He and his wife were off to Fiji for a second honeymoon they had decided to take. They had told me not to call them under any circumstances. Even emergencies. For those I was apparently supposed to call the police or a neighbor or a friend for help...just not them.

I heard a sigh come from the couch next to me. I looked down at Shane. He was our big German shepherd guard dog. And he was the sweetest thing in the whole world. Or at least, he was if you weren't a cause for him to start to do his actual job. I was actually not following another of my dad's rules. Shane was NOT supposed to be on the couch. My dad's reasoning for this was that he was only in the house to be a guard dog and that if he stopped doing his job he would be out the second he did. But that wasn't true. I wasn't the only one who spoiled the big canine with table scraps or allowing him where he wasn't supposed to go. At one time or another both my stepmother and Dad had been seen 'dropping' a piece of bacon or steak on the ground and not being fast enough to pick it up before Shane snapped it up.

His big furry body was taking up more of the couch than I would have liked, but I really didn't mind. I looked away from my book for a moment to rub his ears. His big head lifted and lolled over to look at me with one brown eye.

"Hey, boy. Are you sleepy? Yes you are. Yes you are." I gushed at him rubbing his velvety ears. He rolled his eyes and flopped his head back onto the couch with a huff. I shook my head and turned back to my book only to put it down a minute later.

I just couldn't keep reading. As much as I loved to lie on the couch with Shane, I was not planning on sleeping here. My eyelids were weighting themselves and I willed my legs to move as I pushed myself off the couch. The moment I did, Shane was right up and his paws lightly hit the floor before my butt had fully left the couch. He shook himself out as I finally made it to my feet and stretched.

There was a sudden noise from the back door and both of us froze. We both waited a moment when the noise happened again. My heart kicked into overdrive as I realized that it sounded like someone was testing the lock on the back door. I turned to tell Shane to go that direction to see what it was but when I looked for him, he wasn't there. He was already turning the corner into the hall that led to the kitchen where the back door was. I felt some relief that even if it was someone, Shane was my protection.

I waited for him to come trotting back around the corner; the sign that there was nothing there and I could proceed to bed. But instead of the silence that I was expecting and hoping for, a loud growling bark split the silence like a knife and I nearly jumped out of my skin. That was Shane's attack-bark. I could tell the difference between his warning bark and his attack bark.

He stopped barking and instead a low growl rumbled from around the corner.

"Shane?" I called out tentatively. I slowly made m- way down the darkened hallway. My heart was in my throat and I couldn't swallow.

When I reached the kitchen doorway, I froze and listened to Shane's deep warning growl. But I heard a distinctive 'Chich' as someone turned the doorknob and a low creak as the door opened. My heart stopped and I froze where I was, waiting for the sound of Shane attacking the intruder. I waited and waited. The lock clicked again as it closed. Two minutes passed and they felt like two hours to me. WHAT THE HELL HAD HAPPENED TO SHANE? I heard footsteps and the sound of Shane's claws...then...nothing.

Then I heard something new. A low voice was murmuring. I worked up my courage and peeked around the corner. In front of the back door there was a tall figure. I couldn't tell what the person was wearing but it was a male and I could see him outlined in the shaft of moonlight that came in through the sliding backdoor. He was silhouetted in silver from the light. His hair was a darker color, but it was of medium length and the edges shone silver.

Then I saw Shane. He was sitting looking up at the intruder like he was listening. And the intruder looked like he was...murmuring to Shane. I tried to catch a word and by doing that I leaned forward a little. I caught a few words.

"...mate...no one will be harmed...I only-" He paused and seemed to be listening as Shane gave a quiet bark and a growl that went up and down in pitch as if he was actually responding. The stranger nodded then and began to speak again. I leaned forward more to hear what he said. "I understand, I promise that I won't. On my honor." What the hell? His honor? That sounded strangely...old fashioned. Hadn't the honor system gone out of style?

What the fresh fuck was this? The intruder breaks into my house to talk to my dog at two at two in the morning? About honor of all things? I stood there for a moment longer with my head sticking slightly out from behind the doorway to the kitchen. I reached up to rub my nose and Shane's head whipped to the side to look at me. OH SHIT. He gave a low bark to acknowledge me.

I couldn't move. The stranger leaned back and looked out the window. I heard a low chuckle stir the still air of the room. His voice slid around me like a caress and I shivered. His velvety voice made me want to never move from the spot and stand there forever and let his voice slide around me like warm water.

Everything seemed to slow down as he slowly turned. His hands were in the pockets of a long black coat. He looked rather relaxed in relation to how I felt with my heart about to literally jump out of my throat. His eyes glowed and from what I could see - there was a dense black shadow cast on his face from being silhouetted in the moonlight - he was handsome and pale. He looked like he could be about 20 or even 19. If he had been walking down the street, I would have said he was hot.

His eyes literally glowed as they finally fell on me. They were piercing and unavoidable. If he were looking at you from the other side of the room it would still be hard to miss them from even that distance. One was a piercing, icy green and the other was a deep amber color. The contrast was striking and heart stopping. It was almost as if they were looking right through me.

I was locked in place and I didn't move as his eyes ran over me in a way that made me want to run and hide in my closet. I couldn't understand why, though. I had just turned 16 and I was used to men looking at my body. I wasn't particularly pretty, but people told me I had a good figure. But he looked at me like I was something delicious that had just been placed in front of him on a silver platter. Like I was something to eat.

I shivered and I saw his eyes brighten in amusement. He smiled and I caught a flash of bright teeth. Adrenaline pumped through my body and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. He chuckled again and it caressed my skin like I was naked, a feeling that I didn't hate but I didn't want to feel.

No, this wasn't right.

I whipped around and ran back down the dark hallway as fast as I could. His laughter followed me and made my bones shiver with fear and...something else that I was never going to admit to. I grabbed the cordless phone at the foot of the stairs as I whipped around the banister and moved as fast as I possibly could. I raced into my room and flopped down on my stomach to squeeze under my bed. The closet was too obvious. I hit the on button on the phone and listened for the dial tone.

Nothing. There was just silence. How did that even work? The phone was cordless! If you cut the cord on it, it made no difference!

Frustrated and beginning to panic I put the phone down next to me and tried to calm down enough to think rationally. I looked out of the narrow space between the bed and the floor. I spotted my cell phone a few feet away from the edge. But I heard movement coming from down the hall where the steps were. My chest hurt as another shot of adrenaline was forced through my veins. It was now or never!

I scooted close to the edge and snatched my phone off the floor and pulled it under the bed, right as black boots appeared in the doorway in my peripheral vision. I froze with my finger on the 9. The boots didn't move from where they stood. Carefully watching them and not looking at my phone, I put pressure on the button my finger was on. Still no movement. I glanced at my phone for a moment and pressed the 1 twice. When I looked up, the boots were at the foot of my bed...right in front of my face. I hadn't even heard anything! Panicking, I hit SEND right as a hand appeared at the edge of the bed near the boots and lifted.

I looked up into green and amber eyes with my heart in my throat. His eyes examined me for a moment. Then he gave a small grin and shook his head. I had been right. He was very, VERY handsome. Then he spoke.

"We can't have you doing that now can we?" His voice floated around me again and threatened to make me drop my phone.

While I was stunned, he lithely reached down and plucked my phone out of my hand. I could hear a tiny voice coming from the phone but it ceased when his fingers crushed the whole phone like a gram cracker. Electronic pieces rained down onto my floor with a soft tinkle. He looked down at me again as he flicked his fingers and let the rest of my phone drop to the wood floor as a jumble of crushed circuit boards and wires. I watched as they bounced once or twice as the 'pinged and 'tinkled on the wood before settling.

I stared at my last ruined chance to save myself, willing it to suddenly put itself back together and jump into my hand with 911 on the line.

"It's not going to put itself back together." I almost felt his voice rather than heard it. Floating through the air like something tangible. I glared up at him, determined not to show my fear at all. "Come on out," he said pleasantly. "I won't bite...YET." His grin grew into a fully fledged smirk and I saw something off about his teeth, but I couldn't see from the angle I was at. But I still didn't move at his oh-so-friendly suggestion. He spoke as if he HADN'T just broken into my house and crushed my phone as I tried to call the Police.

Hell, I wasn't going to move! I scooted further under the bed where the space became smaller because of the angle the bed was at. He had to be delusional if he thought I was coming any closer to him. Why couldn't he just rob me and get on with it? Besides, weren't thieves usually afraid when someone found out they were stealing? I tried to ignore the little voice in my mind that whispered that he wasn't a thief.

He sighed as if he were resigned. "Come now, don't be like that, love. You can come out...or I can come and get you. This can be easy or difficult." His eyes gleamed with the threat and I shivered. I weighed the options. But his patience was short. "You REALLY don't want me to have to come down there and get you, Miss Natasha."

He knew my name. For some reason that sent a warm wave of new fear through me. I shivered visibly and forced it down. Working to keep the terror out of my voice, I began to speak to him.

"How do you know my name?" My voice was a little more than a hiss but at least it didn't shake.

He grinned and again I saw something off about his teeth. "Come out from under there and I'll tell you. I'm actually a little surprised that you don't know," he thoughtfully tacked onto the end.

I had no flipping clue what he was talking about. But I decided to move. I slowly crawled to the side towards the bed stand at the edge of the bed. I didn't move any closer to him and my eyes never left his mismatched ones. But while mine were fearful and wary, his gleamed like jewels in their amusement.

As I scootched slowly towards the edge of the bed, my mind was working furiously. There was an old knitting needle on the desk next to my bed stand. If I could edge over to it, I could grab it and stab him. But the thought of that disgusted me more than anything else. I'm not really squeamish about blood, but the thought of me sticking the sharp metal of the needle into his stomach or even his arm made my stomach flip. Even if he was a robber.

I began to move even slower as I tried to think even harder for something I could use for defense. There was the lamp on my bedside table...but I could see the cord not unplugging as I tried to hit him over the head with it. So what about the hard backed Great Expectations that Dad had given me? Could I chuck it at his head and sprint by him while he was distracted? I had to hope that I could and that he didn't have a gun, because I had finally cleared the bed. I scrambled to my feet as fast as I could.

He gently set the bed down without making a sound. He turned back to me and ran his eyes over me. I shivered and wished I wasn't wearing the nightgown that my Step-mother had given me. It wasn't a scandalous outfit, on the contrary. It was cute. It was made of light blue cotton that came to a little higher than mid thigh and it showed off a little more of my dark brown legs than I would have liked. Black lace ran around the rather low-cut neckline and around the bottom edge.

But with the way that he looked at me, the whole thing could have been made of sheer lace. I shivered. His eyes made me squirm and I wished he would look anywhere else.

His mismatched eyes met my fearful ones for a moment and I heard his low chuckle vibrate my bones, and my mind turned, unbidden, to the scent of strawberries and wine, Chocolate and a scent so masculine, so obviously male, that it made my skin crawl. I shivered and I felt warmth between my legs.

No! I couldn't think about things like that. I had Marcus. He was the one that was the one that would take my virginity. It was just wrong in my mind to think of those things about anyone else! Sure Mismatched eyes was a on a higher dimension of sexy than Marcus would ever reach. But his personality was probably a whole lot worse if I had anything to go off of so far.

But he still stood there, his eyes still examining me, but instead of staring at my body, he was looking into my eyes. His eyes were amused and he smirked.

"Nervous, Love?"

"No," I said, biting off the word like it offended me.

He chuckled. "Really? Your heartbeat says otherwise. And the adrenaline spiking your blood smells absolutely...mouthwatering." His eyes reflected blood red like an animal's as he took a step forward into the moonlight. His smile was predatory and his eyes had an inhuman hunger in them. I took a step back involuntarily, my heart sent into overdrive from the adrenaline he spoke of. His eyes returned to their normal mismatched look once he moved out of the moonlight.

He smiled. His teeth caught the moonlight and I saw what made his teeth look distorted earlier. He had _fangs_. They weren't hanging over his lips like the way Hollywood had a tendency of portraying them. Nor were the points tapered or rounded in anyway. They were as sharp as needles and blindingly white.

He saw me focus on his teeth and his eyes shone with a savage kind of glee.

"Don't tell me no one's ever told you that you smell good enough to eat, Love." He cocked his head and he stopped smiling as his eyes began their trip over my body again. I wanted him to stop calling me that.

Okay, the opportune moment had arrived. Or maybe it hadn't, but either way, I was starting to hyperventilate and I felt like I was going to pass out. I turned to grab the book off my desk. I whirled around and hurled it in the direction that I hoped his head was. I didn't look to see if I hit my target. I sprinted by him, hideously afraid as I passed within 6 inches of him to get to my door. I prayed with every fiber in my body that I had hit him in the face with the book.

I had managed to get about three steps before an arm wrapped itself around my waist. Fear plunged ice into every fiber of my body and I kicked and squirmed with all my strength. A sharp curse escaped my throat as I tried to kick and scratch my way out of his grasp. I plunged my nails into the skin of his arm and pulled. But his arm didn't move. I looked down. There wasn't a mark on his skin. Forgetting my earlier squeamishness, I used all my strength to try and mar his perfectly pale skin which was so bright in comparison to mine. But nothing I could do would break his skin. It bent like normal skin and gave at my touch, but I couldn't break it not matter what I did. My nails weren't short and I scratched people by accident sometimes, but his skin wouldn't scratch or bruise!

_He was not human_.

Panic overwhelmed me and I just began to kick wildly. I was able to get about two good screams in before my voice broke and my throat was too dry to make any sound. I was terrified of him and at the same time, just the fact that his body was pressed against my back made me shiver with unwanted lust.

Very suddenly, my hands were held in one of his and I felt his lips at my ear.

"Clever, Love," he breathed, his voice tickling my ear. "But not quite good enough to stop me." His tongue ran up the side of my cheek and I shivered when the wet trail grew cold. "Delicious," he breathed, drawing out the word luxuriously.

His tongue had been cool. I realized then that he gave off no body heat. His hand that held mine was cool. Not cold per say, but there was definitely no real heat coming from him.

"W-Who are you? What-ahhhhh..." My voice was breathy and I gasped when his teeth tugged on my ear lobe.

"Who, me?" His voice was heavy with amusement and seductiveness. It made me shiver, and I hated that he affected me like this. He continued. "I am called Dalca," he said with a subtle accent that I had somehow missed. It was European but I couldn't tell which country. "Am I am pretty sure you have figured out what I am." He trailed his lips down my throat and I could feel the points of his fangs dragging along my skin. Warmth blossomed between my legs, despite my chanting Marcus' name in my head and trying to conjure up pictures of his face.

Suddenly, I was lying on my back on the bed...with no idea how I got there. I could no longer see Dalca, but I could feel that my hands were not released and were being pulled above my head. A second later my feet were pulled to opposite corners and I couldn't move them. I lay there eagle spread, feeling the adrenaline pumping through my system and fearing what was to come.

Then his mismatched eyes were in front of mine again. I could feel the depressions on the mattress from where his hands pressed into the bed next to my chest on either side. He stared into my eyes with an intensity that scared me.

_Marcus, Marcus, Marcus_...I chanted to myself.

Dalca pursed his lips and blew into my face. His cool breath was an intensified version of the masculine scent that I thought I had smelled earlier. My body shuddered in anticipation as my skin crawled and my mouth went dry. My body went cold then my skin felt too hot and I felt most of the warmth pool between my legs. I felt my panties grow damp. My eyes unfocused and the only thing I could see clearly were his glowing green and amber eyes.

I lost the ability to summon the image of Marcus in my mind's eye. _M-Marcus, Marcus, Marcus_...all I had left was to chant. I realized that I couldn't fight him and had stopped doing so when that delicious smell assaulted me. My body just wouldn't listen to me anymore; I was helpless.

I could vaguely see him above me, and he was looking down at me and I saw his teeth flash in a grin before his lips stole mine and drove all thoughts of Marcus out of my head. Dalca didn't wait for permission like Marcus did and drove his tongue into my mouth. I couldn't control my own body anymore and I kissed him back with abandon, pushing my tongue against his.

He kissed like an expert and the taste drove me insane. It was a mix of the same scent from earlier with something that made my whole mouth tingle. Marcus' kisses had never done that before. My breath came hard and fast and I couldn't seem to get enough of the drug that was him. I felt his lips smile against mine. Like he knew what he was doing to me.

Dalca pulled away and I heard a chuckle from him when a low whine escaped my throat. Wait...WHAT?

NO! I was NOT going to have sex with him. Or do anything else of that nature! I didn't know him and I had pledged my virginity to someone who loved me. There was no way. But it was definitely headed that direction and I wanted it to stop. He could do whatever he came here to do and rob us or whatever, he couldn't have my virginity.

"No," I said strongly, making sure that there was no waver in my voice. I was still breathless and my heart was still trying to leap out of my chest, but I had managed to get control of my body again.

I looked into his mismatched eyes and I focused mine so I could see his face clearly again.

"I don't want this, please," I pleaded with him, hating that I had to beg but realizing it was my last resort. "Look, just...do what you came here to do and take what you want. I won't call the police or anything just...please. Don't do this." I pleaded with my eyes, hoping that whatever shred of humanity that was left in him would rise to the surface and tell him that this was wrong.

A low, animal growl vibrated the air and I saw his eyes focus on my neck. His tongue ran over his fangs and his eyes grew vacant with hunger. His head tilted slightly and I saw his eyes turn red as he leaned towards my throat.

Oh right, I realized. I had somehow managed to push the fact that he was a vampire to the back of my mind.

His nose and lips pressed to my skin as they ran up and down the column of my throat. "You seem to think that I'm human and will let you go if you plead enough."His voice vibrated my throat with a growl. I felt his tongue slip from between his lips to taste my skin and a shudder made its way down my spine. He leaned back so I could see his now blood-red eyes glint with amusement as his lips turned up in a smirk. "You also seem to be under the impression that I am going to rape you." He chuckled.

I glared at him warily. "A-aren't you?" I said as I tried to keep a cool head. It wasn't working. I was terrified and aroused at the same time, but I only wanted to feel the terror. I hated that I was so attracted to him even though I wanted only Marcus to affect me like this. But I felt like I had betrayed him just because Dalca's spicy taste was still on my tongue and I liked it.

He grinned and his fangs flashed. "Love, when you finally come to bed with me, I promise you, you will be completely willing." His confident tone enraged me.

I glared at him with hard eyes, my earlier fear momentarily swallowed by anger. "You seem to think that we will meet again after this," I said stiffly.

"You seem to think you wouldn't enjoy it," he countered with a purr, his eyes filled with dark amusement at my outburst.

"I would NOT. I can't enjoy anything with you, pedophile," I spat at his face, wishing with all my heart that it was true and hating that it wasn't.

He threw his head back and laughed. It sent chills down my spine from fear. Dammit. He knew I was lying.

"Then why, may I ask, did you enjoy what I was doing to you a few moments ago?"

"I didn't," I lied again, hating that it was so obviously untrue. But there was no way I was going to admit that to him.

"Then why," he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply though his nose before reopening them in triumph, "can I smell the intoxicating scent of your arousal?"

SHIT. He could smell that?

I said nothing, I just glared at him wishing looks could kill.

"You can't even lie to me this time, Love," he leaned down so that his lips brushed mine as he spoke and my anger evaporated as I lost myself in the red of his eyes and his mouthwatering scent. "You are going to ENJOY what I am about to do to you, Love. I promise."

I felt a dribble of anger work its way back into my chest at his overconfident tone. "NO, I'm NOT," I said with a hell of a lot more strength than I had.

He raised his eyebrow and I realized that I had surprised him by breaking free of his spell. "You're very strong, Love, I'll give you that much. But...we'll see if you don't. I'll make you forget all about Marcus. Your virtue will remain in place, but you will not remain untouched." I realized that at some point I must have been muttering Marcus' name under my breath and he had heard. But his last words made me shiver in both fear and anticipation. He smirked when he felt my body tremble.

Again I succumbed to the wanton scent that clung to every part of him, so I wasn't prepared when his lips moved over mine and his tongue slid to the back of my throat. His taste overwhelmed me and my eyes lost focus.

God he tasted amazing. I loved that taste with every fiber of my body and not a thought in my mind argued this; it was a fact. It was as though it was made just to drive my senses haywire with feelings I had only had for one person. A poison created just for me, spreading through my veins and heating them like fire, making me want the person who was doing this to me so badly that I ached in my lower regions. I felt his lips curve on mine in a smirk again and I felt the faint taste of impending defeat. The delicious taste of defeat...

I restarted my struggle...not really sure what I was fighting for but knowing that someone else was supposed to make me feel this way...someone important. But it was as if he knew I was attempting to remember and began his assault in earnest.

I felt his hand slide down the side of my clothed body, his thumb brushing over my covered nipple before it moved further south. His cool fingers then began to travel back up my flat stomach pushing the thin cotton fabric with it. I shuddered again as I felt his skin touch mine in places that only one other had touched me in. But who else had touched me there? What was his name?

_Marcus_.

His lips broke from mine and I was able to whisper, "No! Please, wait!" But my vision wouldn't clear and I gasped when his hand gently cupped my left breast. My mouth couldn't seem to close as my breath came in huge, loud gasps of air.

He squeezed and his fingers rolled my hardened nipple in circles. He pulled and my teeth managed to crash down on my tongue in time to keep myself from moaning. I tasted blood and suddenly Dalca'slips were on mine again and he sucked on my tongue, a low moaning growl rumbling from his chest. He ground his hips into mine and I could feel a hard bulge pressing against my covered core. Unable to stop myself at the sudden spike of pleasure, I moaned into his mouth.

He released me suddenly and he stooped to my neck where the fabric from my gown was now bunched, exposing my chest. I raised my head to see what he was doing. I saw him sink his teeth into the fabric of the gown and with a feral growl, proceed to rip it to several pieces while his other hand continued to massage me. With a yank of his head, he pulled the gown out from under me where it slid off the edge of the bed to the floor.

Now the only thing that was covering me from his prying eyes as they slid over my exposed skin were my now very damp panties. But I had a feeling they would not remain in place very long.

With the embarrassment, I couldn't help but feel I felt my sense return. My vision cleared and I remembered Marcus' name and I felt ashamed that a total stranger was doing a better job of touching me than he ever had. I raised my head again, just as he switched hands to administer to the other side. He was staring down at my brown nipple with hungry eyes. He must have felt me looking at him though, because his red eyes flicked up to meet my fearful ones. He gave me a feral grin and-before I could protest-brought his mouth down over my nipple.

My sense was driven out again but my vision remained clear as my back arched up, pushing more of myself into his mouth. A tiny, breathless mewl made its way from my throat, but I had a feeling that it would have been bigger had I been able to get more air into my lungs.

His tongue took over where his fingers had been and he swirled my nipple with his tongue. I felt his fangs graze me and I shuddered. After that, he made sure to do it more often.

I felt his hand leave my other breast and trail down my skin to my panties.

I felt my sense return in a rush when I realized where he was headed. That was the only place that Marcus had never touched me because I had asked him not to. I began to pull against the bonds that he had tied me with. I wiggled, pulled and jerked to no avail. His knots held true and his fingers reached the lip of my undies and dipped below it.

My breath released in a huff when Dalca's fingers touched my clit. He released my breast from his mouth's ministrations and looked up to watch my face, his red eyes glowing with triumph and a smirk on his lips. His fingers rubbed the little bundle of nerves in a circle and I could see his eyes glow when a small moan left my lips.

"So you're not enjoying it, are you? But you feel so wet and slick down here. It seems to me that you LIKE this, Natasha."

I shook my head no. He rubbed harder and I closed my eyes in embarrassment as another moan escaped my lips.

"Moan for me again, Love. I want to hear the sweet sounds you make," he purred into my ear.

I made an effort to keep my mouth shut. I succeeded to a point. Small moans slipped through but that wasn't to his satisfaction. I opened my eyes, wanting to see his dissatisfied face.

He was smiling and shaking his head with something like admiration in his eyes.

"Though your body is saying yes, you've managed to hold onto your mind. A fighter to the end, Love...too bad I always get what I want. You'll moan my name soon, Natasha. I'll just have to resort to other...methods."

I shook my head vigorously. Anger bubbled up inside me. My mind was screaming 'NO!' but if I unclenched my jaw, I knew the first thing that came from my lips would be a moaned 'yes'.

Keeping his blood red eyes on me, Dalca began to trail down my body with his tongue. Watching my eyes widen as I saw where he was going. Though I knew it was a lost cause, I renewed my struggle, testing the bonds again. But his face reached my panties and he crouched there and drew his hand out slowly. He held his fingers up and I could see them glistening. He lifted his hand to his lips and luxuriously began to lick his fingers clean. His tongue slipped between them and the way he did it made it look incredibly obscene and erotic. My breath began to come a little faster from watching him.

When he finished, he bent down slowly and-still watching me-slid his fangs under the edge of my panties and ripped them off in one clean motion. He raised his head with my panties hanging from one side of his mouth, clenched in his teeth. There was a thin string of thick white juice that hung off the panties that dangled and broke. He grinned, looking like the cat that got the cream, and with one quick motion of his head, tossed my panties to the floor with my nightgown.

Before I knew what he was doing, he plunged his mouth into the steamy folds of my sex and sucked on my clit. I moaned so loudly that it echoed down the hall.

"Ohhhh, god..." I moaned as his tongue rolled my clit in his mouth and he sucked hard. He dipped a little lower and I felt his tongue slip inside of me. The next moan I gave was almost a scream.

"Jesus..." I whispered breathily.

I felt his tongue move back up to my clit and I whimpered at the empty feeling. I heard his laugh before something long and thin was suddenly thrust inside me. I moaned as it pulled out and was forced back up me. He did it again and again, harder and harder. My moans got louder and somehow more obscene. But I couldn't stop.

And I didn't want him to stop.

His lips were by my ear again and I could feel how slick they were from my body.

"Enjoying it now, Love?" I shook my head even as I moaned loudly again, trying to resist what I was feeling. "Hmmm...I wonder..." A SECOND FINGER was suddenly inserted up my narrow passage way and I screamed. I could feel my release coming soon. His thumb rubbed my clit and my back arched and my hips thrust up by themselves to feel more of his fingers.

"How about now, Love?" He slammed his fingers into me. "Do you feel it?" How could his voice be so calm when he was driving me insane?

I couldn't stop myself anymore. I was too close.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeees! Oh God, YES!" I heard my voice screaming. I could hear his laugh and I couldn't deny that he had won the battle between the two of us. But he wasn't finished. He wanted to gloat over his victory.

"What's my name?" He asked. I could only moan.

He leaned over and kissed me and I could taste myself on his lips and tongue along with his taste. I lost myself again and my eyes rolled back in my head. I was on the edge. He stopped suddenly. I whimpered. My eyes snapped back to his and he smirked at the desperate look in them.

"Say my name," he commanded, and I could see the gloating amusement on his face.

"Dalca," I said breathily, and moaned as he restarted the thrusting harder than before.

"Say it again, louder."

"DALCA," I moaned, so close to the edge that my pride had evaporated. I was right there. So close...

"Tell me who's doing this to you. Tell me who your body belongs to. Tell me the only person you scream for." His breath was low and his eyes burned with triumph. "Every time you feel pleasure, who will you think of?"

"DALCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I screamed right as he sank his fangs into my throat and as I came around his fingers.

When he bit me, it sent me to a whole new level. My body bucked and shook and my hips shot up towards his fingers at the same time he buried them in me. I felt a little nudge as he touched my maidenhead, but he didn't break it. My body writhed under his and I could feel his lips curve on my throat, even as his fangs were buried in me. I convulsed around his fingers and he separated them and let them snap back together inside me quickly, again and again. I screamed again as I came once more before the spasms of the first had finished and I passed out with his fingers still inside me.

When I opened my eyes I was untied and I saw a shadow near the window. I turned my head but I moved too quickly and my head spun. When my vision cleared I saw Dalca, crouching on the windowsill silhouetted in moonlight like the first time I saw him. He turned and looked over his shoulder at me, his black coat floating in the wind from the open window, and I saw his icy green and molten amber eyes pass over me appreciatively, before he grinned. A smear of blood -my blood- lingered by the corner of his mouth.

His dark hair fluttered in the wind as he spoke to me with a leer.

"Until next time, Love," he purred and launched himself into the night.

I lay there staring for a long time, too drained to move. But when I finally heaved myself up, my head spun and my arms threatened not to hold my weight. Between my outstretched legs, there was a small puddle of white liquid and my sex was soaked in it. Pleasant aftershocks ran through my lower body as I thought about what had happened. A hand reached to rub my sore neck and I came away with blood. I stumbled to the bathroom to look in the mirror, but it was hard. My head spun and I almost passed out twice, as my knees wobbled but I finally made it there. Shane padded into the bathroom after me making me jump.

I rubbed his head as I turned to look in the mirror. The area around my left nipple was red and had tiny scratches on it from where his fangs had scraped me. But there two deep, circular wounds in the side of my neck, about an inch apart. I touched them and a shiver of pleasure floated through my body. I realized that this was his way of marking me. Marcus was going to wonder what the hell had bitten me.

MARCUS!

I felt a deep sense of dismay. He had done what he said he would do. He made me forget Marcus ever existed when he was with me. Not the entire time, but he did succeed. So why had I enjoyed it? Rape was supposed to not feel good. I had read it as a fact somewhere….but what he had done to me was not unpleasant…..

Something dripped down my leg and I saw a dribble of white dripping down my leg, I looked in the mirror again with a sigh. There was no doubt in my mind. Dalca was definitely going to be back. But...would I push him away? Would my body let me? Or would he play my body like an instrument and control me again?

I shook my head.

The first thing I was doing in the morning was calling Josie. Even if she didn't believe me-and I knew she would-I had to tell someone about this. And she could help me figure out what to do about these damn marks that Dalca left in plain sight in the middle of my neck.

_**First section here! I wanna know what people think so R & R please! (oh how I've wanted to say that!)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Yes so here's the next little bit.**_

Josephina Munerez was sitting on my newly changed bed sheets and I was a across from her. She stared at me with her brown almond shaped eyes. She threw her wavy dark brown hair over one shoulder and began to speak.

"Soooo let me get this straight. A vampire broke into your house, talked your dog into letting him pass and molested you?" Her voice wasn't unbelieving, just...calculating. She counted them off on her fingers as she said them.

I shifted uncomfortably in the lounge chair in the corner of my room. "Yeah, that's about all."

"Wait," she held her hands up. "Did he look like Edward?"

"Who?" I asked, totally at a lost for what the hell she was talking about. But it hit me as she began to explain exasperatedly.

"You _know_...Edward Cullen."

"No," I said flatly. The fact that she had even brought him up pissed me off because it seemed like she wasn't taking this seriously.

"Was he _sexier_ than Edward then?" Josie asked, like she was reading my mind.

I looked away and didn't answer. How could she be asking these questions in the light of the situation? This was serious!

She grinned triumphantly. "This is so _cool_!" She practically screeched. "You discovered real evidence that vampires exist! This is so awesome!"

I stared at her as if she had sprouted a third arm from the middle of her chest.

"Are you _crazy_? This isn't awesome. This is _horrible_! I have a vampire stalker that is going to come back and do the exact same thing again and I have no way to stop him! _How is this awesome_?"

"I thought you enjoyed it."

"What? I never-"

"Yes you did," she said flatly. "You said that you were really pissed off because it wasn't Marcus not that you didn't enjoy it."

"I _am_ upset that it wasn't Marcus," I said angrily but not really at her. "I wanted him to make me feel that way, not some pretty-boy vampire that decided I would make a good snack for the night!"

Josie shrugged and looked towards the ceiling thoughtfully. "But didn't you say he acted strange-I mean other than the whole molesting you and you know, being a vampire thing," she said amending at the last second because of the look I gave her. "You said he said something like 'you should have known' or something, right? So maybe there's more to this than we know."

"He said that he was surprised that I didn't know."

"There!" Josie said with finality. "That just proves my point. There has to be more behind this. Besides, if he's a vampire, why the hell would he come in the back door and go through the trouble of messing with your dog? If he jumped out of your window to leave, couldn't he have jumped up there too? In theory, I mean."

I thought about it. She had a point. I didn't have much time to analyze his expression when he came in the door; I was too scared at the time. Had he been surprised to see me? Maybe he hadn't been looking for me at all...but then, what _had_ he come for? And why had he gone to the trouble of molesting me?

"I guess you have a point," I said distantly, my mind still working. Then I looked at her sarcastically. "Maybe I'll ask him next time he drops in to molest me."

"Chill out, girl," Josie said waving her and at me. "If you're really that worried then you can sleep at my house for a few nights, alright?"

I hadn't thought of that.

"That would work!" I smiled at Josie. "Sorry for snapping. Thanks for the invite. But are your parents cool with it?"

She waved her hand dismissively again. "They'll be fine. I'll just tell them that you feel uncomfortable in your house alone. We can stay here during the day to take care of Shane."

"Thank you so much, Josie. I owe you one for this."

"Hell yeah, you do."

"But I still have one problem."

"What?"

"I have today off work and I have a date with Marcus. What am I going to do about these damn bite marks?"

Her face immediately darkened at Marcus' name. "Oh yeah. Him," She said in a tone to match her face. "Hey, look. I wanted to talk to you about him."

I rolled my eyes. "Josie, _please_ don't give me the crap on the whole Marcus-is-a-bad-guy-you-shouldn't-date-him-he-only-wants-your-body speech."

She held up her hands in defense. "I know you don't want to hear it, but you need to hear this. You can choose whether or not to believe me."

I sighed, knowing she would start talking anyway. "Fine."

"The other day, I was walking downtown and I saw Marcus and his big football playing friends round the corner. They were going the same way I was – I swear I wasn't following them – and I could hear what they were saying. They were going on about you and Marcus said something about Latisha Martin and how he was still with her and was only dating you because he wanted to be the first to pop your cherry." My heart skipped a beat. Latisha Martin? But he said that he broke up with her. My heart panged but I pushed it away.

No. He said that and I believed him. We had no secrets in our relationship and I knew that I loved him and knew that the opposite was true for him.

Josie saw my eyes harden but she continued on anyway.

"He said that you were so 'in love' with him that you decided not to see everything else and that he was close to being the first. He laughed, Natasha. Please believe me. I think he's really going to hurt you if you keep going with this. It's not just that. He's controlling you! Every time he does something that you don't really want to do, you eventually give in to whatever he says. You're not like that and I don't understand why you would change just for him."

I ignored the warnings her words were giving me. I was fine. Marcus told me that he was in love with me and I believed him.

"Josie, I appreciate your concern but I can take care of myself. Really. I see things a different way than you do." I didn't say it meanly. I knew that she only was doing the best she could to keep me from getting hurt like I had with my first boyfriend at beginning of freshman year. "He says he loves me and I believe him. That's it. I know you're only doing this because you think that I'm going to get hurt again, but I think it's okay this time."

She sighed and didn't meet my eyes. "Okay, Tasha. You are your own person and you make your decisions."

I got up and gave her a hug. She was upset because of the way that I was being so pigheaded about it. It reminded me of the same thing that had ended up happening at the beginning of freshman year too. Josie had been the one to figure it out then and when she had worked up the guts to tell me I didn't believe her. But I pushed it to the back of my mind. The world wasn't that cruel. It wouldn't put me through that twice along with losing my mother.

"Really, Josie. Thanks."

She nodded and hugged me back but I could still feel her shoulders slump.

"Now, will you help me with the gigantic problem on my neck?"

Josie laughed. Even if she didn't think I was making the right choices, she would tell me what I was doing and if I was too pigheaded to figure it out, then she would stand by so I could fall back on her crying.

But that wouldn't happen this time.

"Okay," She said rubbing her hands together. "A scarf might work but you need and outfit to match. But the scarf might be too heavy for the heat wave we're getting today. It's supposed to be 90. Do you have any of those really thin shawls?"

"Ummm...let me look," I said getting up and digging through the messy upper shelves of my closet. "Here's one," I said holding up a see-through green and blue shawl-thing that had paint spatter designs all over it.

"Okay, now for your outfit," she said. She got up right as my house phone rang. I ran to get it.

When I glanced at the caller I.D. I freaked out. I sprinted back to my room as it rang a second time.

"It's Marcus!" I hissed to her as her eyes widened.

"Well pick up!"

"Hello?" I said putting the phone to my ear.

"Hey, Baby," Marcus' easy voice came from the phone. I felt my face curve into that stupid smile that I couldn't help but wear when I heard his voice. "We still on for today?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure. Ummm...what time does the movie start and what are we seeing again?"

"It was 5:00 and it was that horror- thriller with like Will Smith in it."

"Oh." I said. I did _not_ want to see that. I couldn't handle horror. Just ghost stories gave me nightmares. You could throw vampires and werewolves at me and I wouldn't flinch. Just not ghosts. Something about the dead coming back to haunt from beyond the grave scared me silly. My imagination tended to run away from me. "Umm...couldn't we see a comedy instead? You know...because I'm not really into horror movies. You know we could see the one with Chris Rock and Adam Sandler?" I said it as a question.

There was a grunt of dissatisfaction. "Come on, baby. Why do you want to see some stupid comedy when we could see a horror?"

I had already explained this to him, but he didn't hear me. "I just don't like horror. It gives me nightmares."

"It's fine, babe. I'll be right there next to you. It's just a movie."

"Ummm...okay," I said softly, reluctantly giving in.

"Great!" He crowed. "You'll like it. I promise." *Click*

"Okay, see you there," I finished lamely into the silent phone.

I hung up and turned to Josie. Pushing my doubts away, I smiled and said, "We're still on."

"Alright," She said, with a shrug attempting indifference and failing. I saw her eyes tighten minutely. "Now let's find your outfit."

An hour after digging through the contents of both my and what was left of my step-mother's closets (most of her stuff went to Fiji with them), we managed to put together an outfit that went perfectly with the scarf that I found. Green jeggings along with a white and blue shirt with the scarf hiding the bandage covering Dalca's bite.

I shivered. I had to stop thinking of the bite as his. From now on the bite was THE bite and not Dalca's bite. Otherwise it would be serving he purpose that he wanted it to serve: to give me the feeling that he was always there. Always watching me...my neck prickled. I felt eyes on me. I whipped around from the mirror in my room to glare at my window. There was sunlight streaming in from outside...but there was no one there.

"What?" Josie looked from me to the window in confusion.

"Nothing...," I said still glaring at the window. "I felt like someone was watching me for a minute."

"Can vampires come out in the sunlight?"

I felt sudden panic strike me. "I don't know!" I turned to Josie, my eyes wide with fear. "What if he can? What am I supposed to do? I thought I was safe during the day!"

"I don't know either," Josie said, genuinely looking worried. Then she sighed and looked thoughtful. "It's amazing how we think we know so much from all the vampire crap that's out these days. Yet when something real actually show up, we're at a total lost for what to do. It's like dealing with a wild animal that you don't know anything about."

"Worse," I muttered under my breath. "It's worse than that. He has more speed or strength than any animal. His senses are better. His _reflexes_ are better a_nd_ he has the cunning of..." I was going to say a human, but I remembered his eyes reflecting red in the light like an animal's. "They must be an entirely different species. Now that I think about it there's a perfect predator to every organism on the planet...and I think we just 'discovered' ours, or at least brought it into the light."

Josie nodded and then looked slightly panicked. We looked at each other with the same thought.

"We're screwed," Josie said quietly, then she looked up with a slightly happier look. "Well technically _you're_ screwed and I'm okay."

"Thanks," I said dryly. "Glad to know my friends stick by me." I rolled my eyes.

"Hey," She protested. "I'm not being mean. I was stating a fact. He doesn't know I exist, and he's coming after you. What part of this puts me in danger?"

"Oh nothing," I said trying to act nonchalant and studying my nails. "Just the fact that I'm going to be staying at your house for the next few days and that he might somehow figure out I'm there...nothing big. You're right; you're not in any danger at all."

Josie's tan skin turned a couple shades lighter.

"Shit," She cursed quietly.

I was suddenly worried about the look on her face. "Ummm...you aren't pulling out on your offer...are you?" I asked hesitantly.

"Hmm?" She looked up. "What? No! Of course not! I was just thinking that while you were on your date, I just needed to do some research and shift though all the stuff I find on the internet and figure out what's crap and what's not on vampires."

"Oh," I said at a loss for things to say.

Josie glanced around my room and then pulled out her phone.

"You're going to be late if you don't get in the car within the next 30 seconds," Josie stated with a flat tone. I was surprised she didn't let me just be late considering how much she hated Marcus. But you didn't see me complaining.

_**Yeah, so this was more of a filler chapter than anything. Not much happens. You get a preliminary to Marcus and you meet him in the next chapter. But I really like reviews. So the more people decide to click that little link at the bottom, the sooner I'll put it up.**_

_**I feel so presumptuous saying that since this is my first story...i just realy want to hear what people have to say. So please, TELL ME UR THOTS! Just click the button BELOW...**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Here's the next little piece.**_

Ten minutes later Josie pulled her car up to the front of the theatre.

"Thanks for the ride, Josie. I owe you another one."

"Yeah," She said rolling her eyes. "I really need to start writing these down in the weight of the debt owed. The top of the list being that I'm letting you stay at my house while a sexy, molesting vampire is after your ass!"

I rolled my eyes and got out.

"Hey!" Josie's voice made me turn. She was leaning across the passenger seat shouting out the open window. A car behind her honked and she slowly inched forward.

"Call me whenever you're done, but keep in mind that staying out after dark isn't a good idea."

She had a point and I nodded. "I'm good. I'll call if I see him, though. Even if it's in the middle of the movie."

"Works for me." And she drove off.

I stepped off the curb and began to dig in my purse for my wallet as I walked up to the booth.

"Hey, Baby," a smooth voice said. But it wasn't quite as smooth as a different voice I knew...and it hadn't called me 'Love' in a faint, sexy accent...

_Get a grip,_ I said to myself. _You haven't even seen Marcus's face yet and you think of _him.

I turned and smiled at Marcus, trying to ignore the feeling of awkwardness and betrayal.

"Hey," I said with a small smile. I had always been at a loss of what to call him. It felt awkward calling him 'baby' like he did to me. But then to call him by his name seemed too formal. But that was always what I ended up calling him anyway.

I looked him up and down. I wasn't studying his body like he was currently doing to mine with a smirk. I was making sure he had dressed respectably. I hated when he showed up with a do-rag under a sideways turned baseball cap and an oversized t-shirt with his basketball shorts down to his knees. I hated that look. It was trashy and it said to me that he had no self respect for how people saw him.

But he wasn't dressed like that today. He had on a pair of basketball shorts (the right size) and a green t-shirt. His short, thick, black hair was brushed and shiny.

I gave a hesitant smile up at him.

He gave me a smirk back and he put his arm around me, steering us toward the movie booth as he said, "Let's go," in his easy rumbly voice.

Marcus was the quarter back of my school football team and looked every bit the part. He was built powerfully from his shoulders to his feet. I always felt dwarfed in size by him because I'm a small girl.

Marcus bought both of our tickets and we went into the movie together.

The first scene in the movie was a crowd of people in an elevator falling to their deaths as the elevator's wires were cut.

God I could already tell this was going to be bad. I hated movies like this. Thrillers I could handle. Ghosts? Not even close.

I started to get more and more freaked out. The main characters had some sort of romance thing going on when they both got stuck in a building after hours when the doors had all mysteriously locked. Things were getting hot and heavy on screen and I was starting to sweat because the music was building...the music that meant that someone was about to die at the hands of one of the gruesome-looking ghosts.

Marcus chose his point to attempt at some romance. He snaked his arm around me and pulled me close to him, already having pulled up the armrest between the seats. I was too busy trying to slink down in my seat to try to cover my eyes and my ears at the same time. I felt tears pick my eyes when I caught a glimpse of the screen and a terrifying zombie looking thing. But my eyes immediately closed of their own accord and I felt a shiver of fear rack me. God why was I here? I hated this crap anyway.

"What's wrong with you?" I looked up at Marcus' hissed question.

"I hate ghosts," I managed to whisper. Barely though, my mouth had become far too dry to do much. "Can we _please_ go?"

He looked back at the screen. "It'll be fine. Just watch the rest. You're gonna' like it if you watch the whole thing. It's more than halfway through anyway."

"I know," I know I whispered. "But I'm really scared. Can we go?"

"If you want you can leave without me. But I really want to see the rest."

Marcus' arm left from around me and I felt alone. My legs were locked and there was no way I was going to be able to make it out of the theatre while the movie was still going on.

Five minutes passed and I curled into a ball on the seat, shivering.

I felt Marcus' arm come back around me. "If you're really that scared I guess I could distract you..." He turned my head towards his and I felt the tears fall down my cheeks. He didn't realize that I didn't want to be distracted; I just _really_ wanted to get out of here. More than anything else at the moment. But I didn't move. Right as he was about to kiss me something happened.

A drink smashed into the back of Marcus' head where it exploded and covered him in...something oily. That was no drink. Someone had gone through a lot of trouble to fill an entire extra large cup completely with popcorn butter. But the weird part was, not a drop had landed on me. It was really strange. He was soaked in it and though his arm had been around me and he had been leaning towards me, there was nothing on me. I was as dry and clean as the moment I had walked in here.

Marcus surged to his feet as the theatre erupted into snickers from the many guys who filled the seats.

"Who threw that?" Marcus roared in the general direction that the cup had come from. "Who fucking threw it? Whoever you are I'll tear your damn balls off when I find you!"

"I think he might have some trouble with that." A low voice to my right whispered directly into my ear. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. "Perhaps you should inform him how hard it is to mar my skin. After all, you do have some experience."

I froze and looked into his mismatched eyes, not sure what to do. I was distracted from the movie and for that I was grateful to whoever threw the drink...wait a second...

"Dalca?" I asked as if I was unsure who the mismatched eyes belonged to.

So much for calling Josie when I saw him...

"Yes, Love?" His voice purred, sending shivers down my spine. I reveled in the simple pleasure that just his voice gave me. For some stupid, and I do mean STUPID reason, his voice calmed my heart which had been pounding away in overdrive since the beginning of the movie over an hour ago. And that made no sense. I should be terrified of him! But I felt relieved that he had shown up. It was like some unknown tension in my body was released.

"Did you throw that at him?"

"Perhaps I did. Are you going to do something about it?"I felt a feather light touch on my cheek as he cupped my face with one hand. His thumb ran across my lips. I unconsciously leaned into his hand and my eyes drifted shut at the serenity I felt. I couldn't even respond to his challenge.

Wait. WHAT WAS I DOING? My goddamn BOYFRIEND was sitting right next to me screaming his head off because someone basically threw a vat of popcorn butter at him. Meanwhile, the person who threw it was sitting next to me stroking my face; the same person who had molested me the night before...and I was letting him do it again. How did he manage to have so much power over me right away? A least the first time I had fought against him. Now I was just giving in without a thought.

I leaned away from him, furious with myself. "Why?" I demanded. The word itself sounded rude...exactly how I wanted it to sound.

He laughed, something that I wasn't expecting; Anger, maybe from pulling away from his caress, but not amusement.

His body shook with laughter and I could feel it tingle the air around me and rub my skin.

"Why? Because when I marked you last night, Love, it meant you were mine and that you still are mine. HE," Dalca said, almost spitting in Marcus' direction, "was trying to touch something that belonged to me and he was causing you intense discomfort by lying to you and by forcing you watching this ridiculous movie."

The first thing made me fume. I was NOT his. This bastard could take his eighteenth century ideas back to wherever he came from. But the second thing was actually kind of...sweet. He could see that the movie was upsetting me and that was one of the reasons that he had thrown the giant bucket of butter at Marcus. Or at least, according to him it was. But the lying thing didn't make any sense.

"Wait. What do you mean that he is lying to me?"

His strange eyes hardened suddenly. "Just listen to your friend in the future. She is right it seems."

"What?"

"Natasha!" Marcus' voice suddenly split the conversation in half. I turned towards him when he grabbed my arm and began to drag me towards the exit. "We're leaving. Come on." He dragged me roughly and his grip was painful.

"Marcus, that really hurts! Stop! Ow!"

But he didn't and as he neared the end of the aisle, I felt something tugging and sliding along my neck. I looked back towards Dalca only to see something that scared me silly. His eyes were blazing. They weren't red but they might as well have been for all of the anger that was radiating out of him. In one hand he held the end of my scarf and it slipped away onto the floor, exposing the light colored bandage that covered the bite that Dalca had given me. The last thing I saw him do was him bare his fangs in my direction, his face half in shadow from the movie.

The moment that Marcus pulled me out of the theatre, I realized that Dalca must have been pissed because Marcus was taking something that he thought was his away from him. Maybe that was a vampire thing? Who knew?

But the next thing I saw nearly made me freeze on the spot. It was still light outside. Dalca was not in any sort of danger from the sun's rays. That only meant one thing to me. At any given moment Dalca was going to come charging out of the building with murder on the mind.

SHIT! How was I supposed to get Marcus to realize the danger he was in?

Marcus had released my arm and was muttering a continuous stream of curses under his breath. He stalked off down the street leaving me to follow him. People stared as he stomped down the street dripping oil. Once he got to the park around the corner, he peeled off his oily, yellowish-green, popcorn scented shirt and tossed it into a trash can nearby.

He sat down on a park bench and didn't say anything.

I looked around hesitantly, trying to see if anyone was coming towards us with bared fangs and red eyes. No one was but I still felt uneasy. I took one more sweep of my surroundings before I looked back to Marcus.

He was staring at me like I was crazy.

"What the hell are you doing?" His voice was subdued but still angry.

I deliberated about how to answer him. I decided to just tell him part of the truth. Not the whole truth just part of it. I reasoned that since Dalca was after me (or at least he was in the long run) Marcus should know what he was into.

"Ummm...I think I know who threw the popcorn butter at you," I said slowly, afraid of how he would react. I couldn't blame him for being mad and a little over reactive.

"What?" He roared surging to his feet. "Who was it?" He leaned down over me and gripped my lower arms with his greasy hands. At least he wasn't grabbing my shoulders where the sleeves of my step-mother's shirt was.

"It was this guy named Dalca-"

"That's a gay-assed name," Marcus muttered under his breath.

I felt annoyance bubble up inside me. How is a name gay? Why did guys say that anyway? Besides, Dalca was definitely NOT GAY.

"No it's not-" I said, interrupting.

He looked at me as if he was surprised that I had said something.

It dawned on me then. If his expression was that confused did that mean that our relationship was normally like that? Whenever he said something did I give in without much argument? But that wasn't like me...Josie's words echoed in my head. 'You're not like that and I don't understand why you would change just for him.'

I realized this and made my decision. I wasn't going to change for him. If he loved me that meant that he was going to have to accept me for who I was. No more hiding.

I continued on more confidently.

"He was one of the guys in the back corner of the theatre laughing at you," I lied quickly. It was something that I had always had a knack for. Thinking on my feet.

He released my arms and began to stalk towards the entrance of the park.

"Come on," Marcus growled under his breath. "When we get in there just point the motherfucker out and I'll take care of the rest."

My blood froze at the thought of Marcus confronting Dalca. I wasn't sure exactly how strong Dalca was, but if countless soppy vampire romance stories were anything to go off of, Marcus would be a splatter on the wall before he could land a punch.

I ran after him and grabbed his brown, popcorn butter covered arm. Any other time seeing Marcus shirtless and covered in grease so that he shined like a bronze statue would have made me drool. But I was able to push it out of my mind to stop him from leaving. I told myself that the reason he wasn't sexy to me at the time was because and ONLY because he was about to go get himself killed and NOT because I was thinking about a different, more pale skinned person...

"Marcus, wait," I said, having difficulty holding onto his greasy skin. "Please don't go after him. I don't want you to get hurt. Please."

When he looked back at me, I gave him puppy dog eyes. He looked at me for a long time with his face expressionless. Then he grunted and rolled his eyes but the muscles in his arms relaxed.

"Thank you, Marcus." I said smiling.

"Whatever, baby," he said. Which was the closest that he was going to give me to an apology. Then he looked at me with a new sort of interest in his eyes. A look I knew all too well. "Are your parents home tonight?"

A shiver tried to run its way down my spine and I pushed it down, not wanting to seem nervous but at the same time I couldn't help being shy. _No, but someone basically beat you to the punch….,_ I thought grimly.

"Umm...they're in Fiji for the next until tomorrow and they won't be back until late." I didn't even bother to ask why he wanted to know. I knew.

"I thought that maybe, if you're ready, we could...you know..." He trailed off, not stating the obvious.

I giggled, to try and hide my nervousness. "I would, but not tonight. I am ready but I'm having a sleep over with Josie tonight. Plus I would think you would want to shower a little?" I made it a question and giggled again as I gestured at his greasy torso.

He looked down at himself and grunted something like 'should go back and beat the crap out of the motherfucker that did this.' But he rolled his eyes and let it go.

_**Yep. So Marcus is an ass. I wasn't doing that for the whole plot of this story. That part was originally me ranting on something one of my exs had done but I decided to write it into the story because the person Josie was talking about in the last chapter seemed like a guy that would do something like this.**_

_**Thoughts though. Tell me what goes through your head. What did you like or didn't like? It doesn't have to be long. Just a passing thought is all I want, let your words flow through and click REVIEW! ^_^**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**I never thought there was so much of a thrill associated with having review alerts in my email. It makes me wanna jump up and do a dance...or write some more. :) Here's sum more!**_

Fifteen minutes later, I was in Josie's pale green Prius.

"What? You saw him?"

"Not only did I see him, he threw an extra large cup filled with popcorn butter at Marcus!"

I saw Josie's mouth twist as she stared straight ahead. She bit her lip hard and I heard a snort escape. I rolled my eyes as she busted up and began to howl with laughter loud enough to get stares from people on the sidewalk.

"Oh god!" She gasped for air, four lights later. "His face must've been priceless!" She finally managed to calm down. "Well, Dalca gave the bastard what was coming to him. I'll give him that."

I began to argue, but made a face as I remembered the last thing that Dalca had said to me. 'Just listen to your friend in the future. She is right occasionally it seems.' What the hell had he meant by that?

I mentioned it to Josie when she commented on the face I was making.

She got very quiet. Then she said, "Maybe that means that I was right about what I said earlier."

I laughed. "Josie, how would he know whether or not Marcus was cheating on me? I barely know the guy anyway. Why would I even give consideration to what he even said?"

"I don't know, Tasha," Josie said quietly. "Why don't you ask yourself that question? You brought it up."

I snapped my mouth shut fast and looked away. I refused to acknowledge that she had a point. Why was I worried about it? Did I think he was cheating? NO. Was I even going to think about it the next time I saw him? No...maybe...only if it came up in conversation. Would I ask him about it? No...probably not...of course not...maybe.

I looked up when I felt the car stop. We were in front of a Jewel.

"Why are we stopping?"

"Supplies," Josie said with a determined look on her face. "That vampire is not getting in my house."

We went into the store and Josie headed straight for the spice aisle. She grabbed some containers of garlic powder then marched to the produce section to pick out some fresh garlic. She wasn't taking any chances.

We checked out and got back in the car. But we weren't headed to my house yet.

"Next up, my church," Josie grimly, as if she were performing some morbid deed as dumping a body. I would have laughed if her caution wasn't well deserved.

We stopped at her church and we snuck in through the back entrance. We went to the main sanctuary where the held the services and went around behind the pulpit to the baptism thing that held the water for baptizing.

"Don't they get this water from a faucet or something?" I asked in a hiss as she dipped the first water bottle into the water. We had 3 to fill up. "Are you sure this counts as holy water? And doesn't t become unholy or something if it's _stolen_?"

Josie turned to glare at me. "Shut up! I have no idea but if you keep questioning its holy powers, God might jinx it or something to keep it from working when we really need it! So be quiet!"

I snickered a little but shut up afterward.

After that, we finally headed to my house. Our last stop before our final destination: Josie's house.

"I'll walk Shane while you get ready. But hurry up. Sundown is in less than an hour and I want to have my house vampire-proof before dark."

I had already told her that I had seen him in broad daylight, sunlight no less, but he was a vampire. If the stories were true then he only got stronger when night fell.

I went up to my room and packed a bag full of my stuff. All of my brushes, hair grease, shampoo, conditioner, straightening combs, flat iron, hair dryer, hair dyer comb attachments, sleeping bag...everything I would need. And clothes. But I could always come back for those.

When I was finally done, I was turning the lights out right as Josie walked in the front door with Shane. I gave him some food and refilled his bowl of water before giving him a giant hug and staring into his eyes and telling him I'd be back for him in the morning. He just stared back with baleful eyes. As if to say, 'Why are you leaving me?'

As I got in Josie's car, I felt guilt pang me. But I pushed it away. Dalca had talked to Shane as if he could understand exactly what the big German shepherd had been saying in dog language. And it looked as if he held no grudges towards Shane nor did he stalk him like he seemed to be doing me.

We got to Josie's house 30 minutes before dark, according to and app on Josie's iTouch. We hustled inside and I dropped my bag in her room without unpacking as we ran to the kitchen to dump out our loot. I smashed garlic and tossed it in a blender. Josie began to unscrew the tops of garlic powder containers.

As we worked I asked, "Did you find out what it is about garlic that's supposed to be so repelling to vampires?"

Josie wrinkled her nose as she answered, "It's supposed to be too strong for their senses. It's strong to us, but if we had the senses of an animal we couldn't STAND being in here. Hell, I can barely stand it now! Whoo!" She fanned her face and held her face back from the containers she had just unscrewed.

I nodded. A thought came to me. "Wouldn't onions do it too? I mean if we're talking strong smells..."

Josie stopped for a moment and looked at me with a thoughtful look on her face. "That would work. Look on the second shelf in the refrigerator. There should be half an onion."

There was and I tossed in the blender with the garlic. Almost immediately my eyes began to water and my nose smarted as I leaned away from the blender in an attempt to keep my eyebrows from burning off from the smell.

"Damn! I can't even see what I'm doing my eyes are burning so bad! Crack a window, will you?"

I did and leaned out to try and clear my eyes right as the voice of Josie's mom made me jump and hit my head on the sill with a bang.

Josie laughed as I turned around with tears streaming down my face from the onions and rubbing my head with a disgruntled look on my face.

"I said, what is that horrid smell?" Josie's mother demanded with one hand on her hip while the other pinched her nose.

"Hi, Mrs. Munerez," I said wiping tears out of my eyes.

"Hello, Natasha. Exactly what experiment did you girls say that you would be doing again?"

"An experiment to keep vampires away," I answered quickly when Josie looked lost as to what to say. She looked at me like I was crazy when I said what I did. "We want to see if it will work."

"How do you know that it will work if it REPELLES vampires?"

"They'll come to complain," I said with such confidence and a big cheesy smile that Josie's mother rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Natasha," Mrs. Munerez said with a slight smile on her face. "As long the smell goes when you do, that's all I care about."

"We got you, Mom," Josie answered for me this time. "But were covered. I bought as much Febreeze as I did garlic powder," she said holding up some sprayers of Febreeze that I must have somehow missed her grabbing.

Her mother just shook her head as she walked out.

I looked into the blender at the pale white paste that had collected in the bottom of the container around the blades. Then I glanced at Josie.

"I think your mom is right. This smells terrible. We have enough. And I can't even see your face through my tears."

Josie chuckled and admitted my observation to be correct. She began to dust a little garlic powder across every windowsill and doorway in the house hold except the one in her room. That's where I went with my foul-smelling mixture of what was hopefully a good vampire-repellant.

I was going for easy cleanup and no permanent smells so I lumped the nasty mixture in a line across the polished wood of her windowsill and her doorway. I had already forewarned her to watch her step when she came in. Her room was permeated with the disgusting smell as soon as I plunked the first spoonful on the sill. I smiled in satisfaction as I wrinkled my nose at the funk. It was perfect.

Two hours after dark at nine o'clock, I was Josie's shower scrubbing my Japanese Cherry Blossom body wash into my skin, hoping it would soak in and replace the thick garlic smell that decided that my skin would make a good home. I rinsed and smiled in peaceful satisfaction when a sniff of my skin left no lingering trace of the nasty garlic smell that had remained from the other two scrubs.

I got out and took the shower cap out of my hair. I had just gotten it done and though I had a perm and my hair would stay straight though water, I wasn't willing to ruin sixty dollars of my dad's money.

I stepped over the line of pale goo that I had earlier lumped across the doorway. Josie sat on her bed in her PJs with her hair wet. There was a queen sized air mattress with my sleeping bag on it that now took up a portion of the free floor space in her attic room.

"Is everything ready?" I asked, digging in my bag for a comb as I began to wrap my hair.

"Yep." She was changing the song on her iPod before she plugged it in and began to blare out a French techno song called Alors on Danse. Neither of us really knew what the lyrics were in English, but we knew it was along the lines of "forget your problems and just dance." And that's exactly what we did.

We only stopped once to turn it down around twelve when Josie's dad came in to complain.

It was two when I finally collapsed and gasped out, "Time out! I need...to breathe!"

Josie turned it down and changed the song to something more peaceful before falling on the bed, nearly devoid of energy.

It had been our victory dance. Dalca hadn't shown up and Josie's plan had worked. Now it was time to sleep off the fallout from that much energy release at once.

Out of breath I heard Josie gasp out, "At least it worked. Dalca didn't show. I guess vampires really are allergic to garlic."

We sat there and breathed and I shivered slightly when a breeze from the window floated past my sweaty skin.

"Could you close the window, Josie?"

Right as she replied I froze in realization.

"I didn't...open it..."

"You know, vampires aren't actually allergic to garlic. It just smells so strongly, I could tell what you had done from halfway across the city."

I would know that low, purring, sexy, shiver-inducing, slightly accented voice anywhere.

I whipped around on the bed to see him standing on Josie's windowsill, looking down distastefully at the white paste he was standing in. He was in his long black coat, but underneath there was a black shirt with the words A BLOODY GOOD TIME across it in red. He also wore a pair of dark blue jeans.

For the first time I saw him in proper lighting. He wasn't anywhere near as pale as I thought he was. He had some definite color to his skin. His skin tone looked as if he could be almost Spanish, but I could tell his accent—when it was there—wasn't Spanish. This was the first time I could really see the color of his hair too. It was a deepest jet black I had ever seen almost blue-black. It fell in messy layers nearly to his shoulders and it had a strange almost natural messy feather look that most people had to work to achieve.

He glanced up and met my eyes and I found myself literally frozen to the spot when his icy-green and molten amber eyes met mine. He smirked like he knew the effect he was having on me.

A low shriek made me look up at Josie's bed. She was scrambling to the farthest corner of her bed, where the walls met and she huddled in a ball.

"Don't scream!" I hissed at her from under her breath.

"Are you _crazy_?" She hissed back, having a panic attack. "Hoooooooooooooooooooly shit. Holy shit. Ho shit," was all she seemed to be able to chant for a moment before she shook herself and managed to form a coherent question faster than I could. "H-how the hell did you get up here?"

Dalca's face showed that he was clearly amused by the whole situation. "If you think about it, the answer to that question is really quite simple. I just jumped from the ground."

"We're three stories up."

Dalca gave a little cough, that was clearly supposed to disguise a laugh but failed at doing so. The laugh clearly said, 'thank you, Captain Obvious.'

"I fail to see what makes this so difficult for you to understand," said fully smiling and showing us long, sharp fangs at the anger that was starting to register on Josie's features past the fear. Above anything else, Josie HATED when people insulted her intellect.

But Dalca turned away from her and back to me, and I felt his eyes run over me like I was a steak in front of a starving Hyena. A laughing, starving hyena. Once more I was in nothing scandalous. Heck, this was even more modest than the shredded nightgown. This was actually borderline trashy. I was in a pair of old blue soccer shorts that I had left from my AYSO years and a holey old t-shirt with a picture of a bunny that I had attempted to draw on it when I had been much younger. It was as modest as modest gets. And yet, once more, I felt like I was wearing nothing.

"Still beautiful, I see, Love," he purred at me with a leer.

"Don't call me that," I spat at him. I battling to hold onto my anger and not slip and fall into the trap that his presence always had for me. His eyes knew it too and his smile was predatory as he stalked a step towards me.

"Once more, Love. What are you going to do if I don't?"

I scrambled to my feet as he stalked closer to me.

Right as my back hit the far wall, there was a splashing noise and his hair was abruptly wet and I felt a little hit my face.

I realized that Josie must've managed to get the tops off one of the bottles of 'holy water' and throw it at him.

Dalca turned with a roll of his eyes. He strode over to Josie who shrank back and for a long moment I was terrified that this was the last time that I would see her alive. But all he did was give her a wide smile, probably purposefully showing some fang, and pried the bottle from her fear-frozen fingers. He sniffed it and poured a little over his hand. No one moved for a long moment.

Then I saw him smirk and I heard his chuckle.

"Holy water is just water." His slight accent seemed to disappear for a moment when he said this and it confused me.

He turned back to me and my heart beat kicked up a notch as I considered what he was about to do to me, and I knew it wasn't from fear. Anxious to keep him away from me I blurted the first thing that popped into my head.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I tracked your scent, Love."

"From my house?"

"No. From the park that you were sitting in with that imbecile you call your boyfriend." His voice darkened for a moment and I saw anger sparking in his mismatched eyes. But I was confused. Why the hell would he be mad at the thought of my boyfriend? But he continued on with his eyes dancing in amusement. "Then of course it wasn't hard to figure out who would make half of the town smell of garlic within the span of two hours. I didn't even have to look. Not the best move on your part, Love. Nothing screams 'I'm trying to keep away a vampire' more that garlic and-" He gave an experimental sniff and chuckled. "Onions?"

"Why are you stalking me?"

He smiled at the question as if he knew I was trying to stall and was humoring me. This question more than anything just seemed to amuse him.

"I'm not stalking you. I'm simply claiming my property."

"I told you before. I'm NOT your anything. Least of all your property. Just because you bit doesn't mean you own me," I said dryly, giving him a poisonous look.

He laughed and I couldn't help but shiver.

"But there, Love, is where you're wrong. You see, you belonged to me long before now."

"Hell if I did," I spat venomously at him.

His smile grew wider. He stalked a little closer to me as he spoke.

"You see, your dear father made a deal with me a while back. I do a favor for him...and in exchange, I get whatever I want."

I tried to sink into the wall as he stalked closer to me, but I was still holding onto my anger. "You mean to tell me that my father made a bargain with YOU and that I was the thing that you demanded in return? That's ridiculous. Who asks for children as payment other than creepy little gnomes in fairytales?"

"I don't. Your father offered you up."

"What?" His words didn't quite register with my mind. They made no sense. No way in hell would my dad offer me up as payment for a debt.

He was a foot away from me now and I slowly began to slide towards the door. Behind Dalca I couldn't see Josie, but suddenly there was a blue and silver blur and a LOUD metal 'CLANG'.

He stopped and looked thoughtful. Then he turned and I could see Josie standing there with saucer eyes staring at him as if he had suddenly sprouted a third eye. She stood stunned for a moment, then whipped the metal bat back around so that it would collide straight on with his face.

Dalca didn't flinch. In fact, the bat never reached its destination. Dalca's hand was very suddenly holding the bat a foot away from his face with Josie struggling to pull it out of his grip.

We both froze as the metallic sound of metal being bent suddenly broke the silence. His hand had crushed the bat so that the part that his hand had been wrapped around was crushed to a section about an inch wide.

No one moved for a long moment.

"Oh HEEEEELL no!"

I jumped when I heard Josie's voice. Then I gave her a pleading look. I knew where this was going. That tone of voice meant only one thing: a Josie that was too stupid to listen to reason. This was the Josie that would argue with police officers, argue with me, and pick a fight just for the heck of it. I had a side like this too but it took a little less for it to come out. Meanwhile, Josie...

"This is my BROTHER's bat! Do you have any idea how much this COST?" She shrieked giving him a death glare.

"Yes," Dalca said rather flatly. "But if it was so expensive then maybe you shouldn't have tried to hit me with it."

"Maybe your head shouldn't be so hard," Josie shot back. "After all, you must be pretty thick-headed to ignore a girl after she says no and go on molesting her. This is just evidence." She gestured to the half crushed bat that now lay on the ground after both she and Dalca had dropped it.

Dalca looked faintly amused. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" He asked somewhat dubiously.

"YES." She began to tick off all the things on her fingers as she said them. "I'm talking to the idiot who is going to pay for a new bat for my brother since his ridiculously hard head broke it; the fashion-stupid idiot standing in front of me who is seriously in need of a haircut; the one who broke into my friend's house and molested her; the one who stalked her on her date with her boyfriend; AND the one who showed up at my house STILL stalking my best friend at THREE O'CLOCK IN THE FUCKING MORNING. Yeah that gives me a pretty good idea of who I'm talking to."

Jesus Christ, Josie was going to get us both killed.'

"Hey, Josie," I slid around Dalca and gave him the same cheesy smile I gave her mom. "Can I talk to you for a second?" I tugged on her arm which she promptly yanked out of my grasp.

"No. This idiot needs to know exactly what he's doing. Somewhere in that thick head of his he realizes that what he is doing is morally wrong and will come to realize that we are right."

I just stared at her in open awe. Josie was an idiot. But Dalca's voice made me look at him. Oh god, was he ENGAGING her?

"Apparently I am not the only idiot for I don't keep pointing out painfully obvious things. Morals? A vampire?" He began to laugh in earnest. "In what strange parallel dimension do you live in that VAMPIRES would keep HUMAN morals? And not just that, I'm not the one who is insulting someone who could kill me in the next second."

Josie opened her mouth to reply but this was where I intervened. It's a good thing Josie's bedroom is in the attic, I thought, thinking of how my Dad would be storming in here by now if it were my room.

"Hey now," I said stepping between them and trying to play peacemaker between the pissed off Mexican and the irked European vampire. "Let's just all take a moment to think about what we've said. Perhaps we should meet up tomorrow and discuss exactly what made us so angry today."

Dalca looked at me for a long moment with a straight face before he started to snicker.

That was when Josie's mouth switched from idiotic to just plain STUPID.

She coughed something that sounded a LOT like 'Edward Cullen'. I whipped around and gave her a look that said SHUT UP plain and clear but she wasn't looking at me. She was studying her nails like the idiot she was.

There was a low growl that made the hair on the back of my neck prickle. "What did you just call me?" His voice was dangerous. I gave Josie a warning look which she ignored.

She looked up as if she were surprised. "Are you talking to me?" Then she looked sweetly apologetic. "I'm sorry all the garlic in the room seems to be making me cough." AND SHE DID IT AGAIN.

The girl had a death wish.

"I. AM. NOT. A. FICTIONAL. BOOK. CHARACTER," he growled out, as if each word disgusted him.

"Of course not," Josie said with ease. "But you RESEMBLE him. For example, you are stalking my best friend. That is very Edward-like. In fact," She continued wickedly, "I'd be willing to bet that you're just as creepy. You watch her sleep don't you." It wasn't a question. I just stopped trying. Josie was hell-bent on dying and taking me with her, it seemed. "I'm willing to bet that you even _sparkle _in the sun."

Dalca looked….irked. He was just slightly pissed off, as if someone had told one too many jokes at his expense. "I think you should listen to your friend and shut your mouth, Miss Munerez, before you get yourself killed."

Josie somehow missed the scary strain in his voice and how it had changed to a deadly quiet murmur. His accent was back slightly and I could see his eyes changing slowly to red as he gazed over my head at Josie.

Josie opened her arms wide with a laugh. "What are you going to do pretty boy? You don't look like you could push me over, let alone _hurt_ me!" She pounded her chest with her hand once and laughed. "Bring it. Stupid, fang-less vampire. You won't do anything just like he wouldn't." Her voice was scorning now. But I sensed something coming from Dalca and when I looked at him, my mouth felt like chalk dust had filled it, it was so dry.

A feral snarl ripped through the air and Josie's insults. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Josie's skin lighten shade by shade until it reached the color of the sheets on her bed. Her eyes went wide as the gravity of what she had said finally got through her head.

Dalca had his fangs bared at Josie. His eyes were a glowing bloody red and he had crouched slightly, like a lethal panther about to pounce. This was identical to the look that he had given Marcus. There something strange about his eyes. Then he was gone.

I looked around in confusion. I had blinked and he had disappeared. What the hell?

I heard a weird choking noise from behind me. I turned to see Dalca holding Josie three feet above the ground by her throat. He snarled at her and I finally realized what was missing from his eyes. It was the slight charade that he played in front of me. It was something in his eyes that made him look human. But that element was missing as he glared at Josie, whose face was turning dark red. Her eyes were wide and they locked with mine and begged me for help.

I sprang into action and ran over to him as the lights dimmed a flickered before going out completely. Fear plunged ice into my veins. This was Dalca. It had to be. But I had never heard of anything like vampire making the lights go out or anything.

I heard a hissing growl form words and I shivered when I understood them.

"_Little human, you dare to insinuate that I am as fangless as you? You will die for that insult."_

_NO!_

I ran over to him and grabbed his arm. I could see his eyes glowing red unnaturally as if they were lit from behind. His head snapped towards my face and I dry-swallowed before speaking.

"Dalca, _please. _Don't kill her." He just stared at me. It was then I knew that it was going to take more than me just asking him to let her go to make it happen. "I'll-I'll do what you say….you can do what you want to me…just don't kill her." I closed my eyes as I said this and I looked down and dropped my hand. I was going to murder Josie when this was over. She would owe me for life after this.

The choking noise stopped and I heard a thump on the hardwood floor. I opened my eyes to see Josie unmoving form on the floor. I rushed forward as the lights flicked back on and his hand caught my arm.

"She is fine, merely unconscious." His voice seemed deeper and I could still hear his accent. I still strained towards her without really pulling, biting my lip in worry. There were purple bruises around her neck, but I could see her breathing and it calmed me.

His hand gently turned me and I was looking into his now amber and spearmint eyes. I glared at him before looking away for fear he would explode again.

"Just get it over with," I said closing my eyes and lifting my head as I waited for him to bite me or something.

"Come," was all he said and his grip on my arm didn't change. My eyes flickered open as I was pulled towards the window.

"Wait. What? That's not was we agreed to!"

He stopped and looked back at me with feral eyes. He wasn't angry, but I could see that he still hadn't re-donned the human charade that he played.

He eyed me steadily. "I could just finish what I started there," He said, gesturing to Josie's prone form on the floor. "Besides," he leaned in close to me and I felt his smell invade my head and it turned my muscles to mush. His eyes burned into mine. "I didn't think that you would break a promise so easily. But then I guess it is a trait that runs in the family." His voice was quiet, but it carried in the silent room, full of menace and scorn. Gone was the arrogance and the amusement. His voice sounded world weary and bitter which was so different from what he usually sounded like it was disconcerting. I looked away.

"Y-you know I don't have any idea what you mean," I said carefully, avoiding his eyes.

I flinched when his soft black hair brushed my cheek. "In time you shall. I think it's time you and I talked."

I kept my head lowered and I didn't look at him. I shivered as I felt his hand slide up my arm and wrap around my waist. He was surprisingly gentle. I was pulled to his body and his black coat was around us both. My face was almost against his chest and I made some effort not to put my face against it. The heady smell almost overwhelmed me.

"Close your eyes. This makes most people sick."

I didn't even have time to ask him what he meant. My stomach lurched sickeningly. A low hum vibrated my ears and my teeth chattered from the intensity. The whole thing only lasted a few seconds but when it stopped my stomach was still lurching.

Dalca released me slowly and I slipped to the grass, my legs unable to support the weight of my body. I tried to hold onto the contents of my stomach, but it was difficult. It was as though I had been forced onto a roller coaster that only shook you up and down. When the world finally stopped spinning, I realized that I was outside.

* * *

_**This part was a little longer than the rest...just cuz I didn't want to split it up. :) I would LOVE to hear a little something from the people who read this. PLEASE.**_

_**It really doesn't take a ton,**_

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_**It not hard and it's not new,**_

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	5. Chapter 5

_**Oh my gosh there were so many reviews to the last chapter that I was too excited and just **_**had**_** to put this one up. So...enjoy! ;)**_

I was sitting on the grass about twenty feet away from the edge of a cliff. I could see Dalca standing there, looking out over the edge.

My mind reeled at the same time my stomach lurched. I stayed down and I laid my cheek against the nice cool grass. When I finally managed to sit up, I shivered. It wasn't quite cool, but the dew on the grass was making my shirt damp and when the breeze blew by me, it was cold.

I stood and quietly staggered over to where Dalca was standing. His form wasn't moving save the flapping of his black coat in the wind. I stood about ten feet away from him, gazing out over the cliff.

There was water. Stretching out beyond the cliff was an enormous body of water that reminded me of the ocean, yet had no salty smell of the sea. One of the Great Lakes—Lake Michigan to be precise. I had never seen it at night. My Dad and I lived in a suburb near the Chicago area, so it wasn't uncommon to see the lake from time to time. But there were no cliffs overlooking the lake in Illinois. There were in Wisconsin, which is where I was guessing we were. The only question was how did we get here so _fast_?

I stood next to him and neither of us said a word. Dalca was calm and collected, but brooding. The full moon was bright over head and I felt as though the shining path on the water was a gateway to the center. Or that something magical lay on the other side. It was beautiful. All I could hear was the clashing of the waves far below.

For a while, neither of us said anything. I was still mesmerized by the beauty of the place that he had brought me, and at the same time trying to figure out exactly why he had brought me here.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked quietly. Not wanting to disturb the quiet of the night.

I waited. Five minutes passed and it seemed like he wasn't going to answer me. I sighed and I turned and sat on the grass, content to just observe him.

I sat like that for another few minutes. He was the weirdest thing that I had ever looked at. He didn't fidget, or scratch any itches or sway or stretch or shift his weight from one foot to the other. He just stood there timelessly, like a statue that was wearing clothes.

I felt my fear draining away and simple peace fill me. I tried to be worried that I wasn't going to make it home and that he was going to kill me and toss my corpse into the lake or molest me or something, but I couldn't seem to make myself worry. There was nothing wrong with just sitting here. In fact, it would be even better if Dalca would come sit next to me and—

I shook my head. I couldn't understand what was going on. Dalca had taken me from my best friend's house and brought me here. But before he had done that, he had broken into my friend's house, choked her until she was unconscious, thrown popcorn butter at my boyfriend, and molested me in my own bed. _So why wasn't I afraid of him? _I was definitely wary of him and I didn't trust him. But something about his presence did something to me. It either scared me silly, or it comforted me like nothing else. _And it made no sense._

"Why are you frowning?"

I jumped and looked around when the voice came from right beside me. Dalca's face was inches from mine and I thought for a moment that he was going to kiss me. But another look told me that he was just sitting next to me innocently. His arms were resting on his bent knees and he sat on the grass like I did. I must not have heard him move when he sat down.

His breath floated into my face and I blurted the first thing that came into my mind.

"I'm trying to figure out why I feel so comfortable in your presence when I know I should be afraid," I mumbled distantly. He smelled so good….

He didn't say anything. His glowing mismatched eyes just studied me, flicking to different points on my face. It was an oddly intimate moment. He just stared into my eyes. His hand came up and caressed my cheek, his thumb rubbing my skin. I couldn't understand the expression on his face. His eyes burned into mine, but his mouth was set. What was he thinking?

Something was wrong with this. She shouldn't feel that way. Where was the fear that had been so evident earlier? I had enjoyed seeing her frightened even if it was for the wrong reasons. But there was no fear. It was impossible that she….no way that she could be—

"Why did you bring me here?"

Her soft voice made me look into her large, brown eyes. They were darker than her skin, which was a little lighter than the color of milk chocolate and just as smooth. The satiny skin of her face was the softest thing I had ever felt. But I kept my face emotionless. I wouldn't give her any indication that I was having these thoughts about her. When I wanted her to know that I was thinking sinful things about her, I would let her know.

She sighed in disappointment when I didn't answer and I felt her warm, moist breath float over my face. I breathed in without thinking.

God _damn_, she smelled good. I felt my fangs ache slightly and my uncontrolled side begin to bubble to the surface. _Shit_. I was going to lose it in a moment if I couldn't get a grip.

I released her and leaned away. I hadn't missed the look of fear in her eyes when she no doubt caught the hint of red from my lapse. I could smell it too. But why? I wasn't confused about her fear; it was well deserved. But my lack of control was definitely something to question.

I hadn't come so close to losing it with no actual blood in the air in centuries. What I had done to her two nights ago had been intentional. Not exactly planned seeing as how I had been looking for her father and not intending to see her for a few days yet. But I couldn't help myself. My reasoning had been that I might as well take what belongs to me.

I should have stopped myself and I had managed to in one way seeing as how I didn't actually _take _her. But I had lost some of my control and yet kept some at the same time. I had smelled another male on her and I had been so consumed with anger at her father already for trying to get rid of me that the thought of a weak human male taking what belonged to me pushed me over the edge. I had just simply lost myself when I saw her there in her kitchen doorway. Clad in no more than a thin nightgown that was not yet saturated with her scent like the rest of her clothing, she was radiant. The delicious nightie had been a birthday present from the step-mother that she hated. Her large almond shaped eyes had been wide in fear when I caught her trying to catch a sneaky glimpse of the intruder in her house.

But the one I had been originally searching for was not at the house. He had been gone for a few weeks. I felt myself bristle and my uncontrollable side rise. The man was going to pay. He had taken a sudden honeymoon when I was a few weeks late of the original deadline that had been set. But it was no honeymoon that he was away on. It was a celebration. Since I had been late to the date set for our original agreement, he had decided that his pathetic attempt to rid himself of his debtor had been successful when none of his hit men had replied back and I hadn't shown on the set date. Stupid.

I was pissed off now. No one messed with me like that; especially by sending assassins from my own race to keep me from collecting my debt.

"Fine. Don't answer." I heard her mutter under her breath. She thought that I couldn't hear her, like most humans. But she was crystal clear.

I sighed and began. It seemed that she honestly knew nothing. I felt the bitterness rise up again. It seemed that everyone that I had known had betrayed me in some way. It was what had made me the way I was today.

My father's past? Why would he want to know if I knew about his past?

"Umm…yeah I know. He told me that he was the CEO of a large business corporation when he was younger. Why?" I slowly scooted away from him as I was uncomfortable from the close proximity and a smirk crossed his face and was gone so fast that I wasn't sure if I had seen it.

He sighed, all signs of amusement gone as he continued. "Your father was never one to tell the entire truth to anyone."

I bristled. "You speak as if you know my father. He doesn't lie."

He stared at me for a long moment, and then roared with laughter. It echoed out over the cliff.

"That's ridiculous!" He laughed. "Your father lied so much that when he tried to tell anyone the truth, half of it became a lie!"

I felt the pissier side of my personality rise. "You don't know my Dad! He doesn't lie to me! He just…doesn't always tell me things."

He rolled his eyes and he looked out over the water. "Isn't it possible that he 'just didn't tell you' the specifics of his old job?"

His quiet question hung in the silence and the sound of the waves crashing mutedly did nothing to change the weight of his question. I tried not to let what he said get to me. The suggestion that my dad had lied to me? It was impossible. Inconceivable. _It was plausible_. The more I tried not to think about it, the less I could believe myself. I had another epiphany.

I was doing it again. Only this time I had been doing it all my life. My dad _had_ been lying to me. I just had hid it from myself. I had told myself to believe my father's lies when he promised never to lie to me. I felt myself shut down. Dad….had lied to me?

I had never questioned the curiously blank look in his eyes when ever he said I love you. But he always had so much on his mind from work. He had never come to any school functions. But he had been busy with work…and entertaining….He had told me that he would never lie to me. But that was a lie.

I heard Dalca begin to talk through the haze in my head. I barely heard him and what I did hear I didn't want to comprehend.

"Your father was the leader of an organization that supplied drugs to a Chicago gang called the Black Ghosts. His nickname was 'The Snake'. He was cunning, fast, merciless, and able to worm his way out of almost anything. He dealt with betrayals as personal grievances, eliminating whoever got in his way. He was well known throughout the Chicago gang system as being one of the most ruthless and dangerous men to deal with.

"There was a point in his life where the going got hard and the Black Ghosts weren't willing to pay him enough to transport his drugs and he needed the money. So he decided to sell to a different gang as well as the Black Ghosts. He opened his business to the other Chicago gangs and even some outside gangs. And it worked.

"His contract was to _only_ sell to the Black Ghosts because of the reliability of his source. The Black Ghosts knew your father was good at what he did and wanted to be the ones with the cheapest merchandise to walk the streets of the ghetto. But your father saw a business opportunity and took it.

"For a while luck was on his side. The leaders of the Chicago gangs kept quiet and it never got out that their new supplier was The Snake. It was around this time that he found out that his wife –your mother – was pregnant. It was a well known fact that she was pregnant and your father was getting threats that if he didn't cut off his relations with the outside gangs, someone would end the life of his wife as a result.

"He did as he was told and cut off his relations with the outsiders, but in the process the Black Ghosts found out what he had been doing for the past few years to get so rich and wanted compensation for the money that should belong to them since most of the outer and inner gangs would have usually ended up buying from them anyway. He gave them compensation but it was not enough. This was where an old friend of your father's – also an old friend of mine—volunteered some advice.

"According to your father, that was how he ended up on _my_ doorstep a month later, half-way across the world in Europe. He offered me anything in the world if I could get rid of his debt for him. So I did. When it was over, he said that he had nothing left but his new daughter—his wife had died in childbirth - and that I could have her because he had nowhere to put her and wanted nothing to do with her."

Dalca's accented monotone cut off and I could feel tears running down my face. I dry swallowed a few times and cleared my throat to ask the question that hung in the quiet air.

"Wha-What did he ask you to do f-for him?" I was trying not to let my voice shake. But my shoulders shook and I sniffed as my nose ran.

Dalca didn't seem to want to answer my question. He frowned at the water and clenched his fists. But two minutes later he ground out the answer through clenched teeth.

"He asked me to kill everyone that threatened his pregnant wife or him. That meant wiping out the entirety of the Black Ghosts." His voice faltered then and he said nothing else as he pressed his lips together. He had not glanced at me once throughout the entire story.

I sat there. I wasn't even sure why I was crying. Was it the shock that my dad was a cold-blooded murderer? That he didn't care about me? But it couldn't be true. It wasn't true. There was no way. But it was. I could feel it deep in my chest where his words struck home. I had finally admitted the truth that I had been hiding from myself all of these years: my father didn't love me.

"I-I don't understand why he-he-he just didn't tell me," I hiccupped. My voice was barely auditable to myself.

"Was it really not obvious to you? It must have taken an extremely dense person to not catch that all of these years. You were living with him, weren't you?"

I paused in my sobbing. It took a moment for my brain to comprehend his words. They were so harsh, they didn't register right away. Any _normal_ person would have had the decency to say 'I'm sorry' or at least the sense to stay silent. _What the hell was his problem?_ My head snapped up at him in my sudden fury.

"_Excuse you_?" I glared at him and he stared steadily back. "I can't believe this. No, wait. Actually, I can. This is freaking disgusting. You are so cruel and mean to say something like that to me when I'm obviously upset. In fact, everything you have done to me so far had been cruel. My life has been hell since I met you. That first night ruined my life. And I didn't need to know about my dad or Marcus! I was perfectly content in living inside of the charade that I had constructed for myself. But no! You had to ruin it."

He smirked and I saw red. "It rather seemed like you enjoyed it from my view, Love. Or perhaps I only imagined you moaning."

I held in a shriek of rage and I held my breath and counted to ten with my eyes closed. It didn't help. "Let me just make something clear. I have no attraction to you personally. At all. You disgust me. The only thing you have going for you is your goddamn body! Your personality is shitty. Your head is so big you should be floating off the fucking planet. And you have personally ruined my life for me. It hate that I enjoyed _anything _with you. I hate _you_!"

"That's too bad seeing as how I am the best thing you have going for you right now. Both of the men in your life lied to you, both don't love you and both have very shitty personalities. I am better than both." His tone was nonchalant, as if we were having a normal conversation and he didn't really care about what he was saying to me.

I was so angry it was hard to breathe. Then only thing I could really see was the stupid, annoying, egotistical smirk on his perfect full lips…DAMN! Why couldn't I hate his face as much as I hated him? Though that really made no sense.

"And what, pray tell, have you done for me?" I hissed trying to keep repeating to myself that he was a vampire and that trying to strangle him to death would most likely lead to my own demise.

"I have given you more pleasure than Marcus ever has in your life."

"At least Marcus had the decency to wait until I was ready."

"Yes, of course," He said with a conceding shrug. Then he smirked. "Oh but wait. Isn't Marcus _cheating _on you?"

I had nothing to say to this for a good thirty seconds. My jaw worked and I tried counting again. It didn't work.

"That's …..not the point. The point is that he had the decency to wait."

Dalca shrugged with such indifference that I nearly leapt on him wanting to suddenly test his unbreakable skin again. "He just wanted to be the one to take your virginity, he was willing to wait for that."

I leapt up at this point and stood with my fists clenched and screeched at him for all I was worth. "THAT IS NOT IT, YOU MOTHER-FUCKING _ASS-WIPE_!" He just looked at me with a rather stunned expression on his beautiful face. "He has more humanity that you'll ever have. He is _kind_ to me, if you even know what that word means. He listens to me. Maybe he is cheating and maybe he only wants to pop my cherry. But at least he had the decency to lead me on!" I was truly sobbing now in my anger. But not only because of my fury, but because of the completely hopeless state of my life. I knew I wasn't making sense.

I tried to wipe my eyes when a low growl stopped me in my tracks. "What did you just say to me? Are you seriously telling me that you would rather have someone lie to you all your life than know the truth right away?"

I just glared through my tears. I stared down at him maliciously. My voice was quieter as I spoke and I spat so that every word sounded like venom was dripping off of it. "If you didn't hear what I said, then you can use your fucking powers and rewind time for all I care. Relive it all. You probably have the power to do so, you fucking vampire. Even if you did, I _still_ wouldn't enjoy that first night. No matter how many times you change it around." I glared at him, trying to put all my hate into my eyes.

He stared at me for a long moment. Then slowly, his lips turned up and his fangs were bared in a frightening smile. My heart stopped when his eyes turned a deep glowing red.

Oh shit.

"If that's _really _what you want, Natasha, I'm all too happy to give it to you." He was very suddenly on his feet. I moved away from the cliff and towards the trees that were behind the expanse of grass we were sitting on.

"N-no. Look, Dalca. I didn't mean it. Please…._please_ don't do this again. I'm begging you!"

"What's said is said. It's too late, Natasha. You're mine." His eyes glowed in triumph and my knees nearly gave out.

He stalked a step towards me and I did the only thing I could. I turned and darted into the darkness of the trees.

_**This was interesting to write...it actually took me a while to get this done and the next piece took even longer.**_

_**As you now can very well see,**_

_**reviews tend to make me happy.**_

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_**they'll cut their update time in half!**_

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_**Onegaishimas...(please in Japanese)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Apparently people actually LIKE this story...which seriously surprises me...I mean I like my own story but I didn't think that anyone else would bother to read it. Nevertheless, you don't see me complaining! ;) Here's the next bit. Enjoy!**_

I knew there was no way to escape him. I could feel it in my bones. I tried to twist and turn as I ran. My heartbeat was too fast and I couldn't seem to get enough air into my burning lungs. I almost stopped. But the thought of what he would do to me when he caught me made me run faster. The horrible, wonderful things he would do to me.

Every sound I heard was him. Every rustle of the bushes, every call of the nocturnal animals as they scurried away from my noise, my own footsteps echoing behind me; all of it was because of him. I turned abruptly, feeling a ghosting touch across the back of my neck.

I couldn't let him catch me! My foot caught something and I stumbled and slammed into a tree that I couldn't see as the light of the moon cut off when a cloud moved across it. Now I was blind.

I pulled myself up, not bothering to pull the leaves from my hair and I looked around wildly. I could feel the cuts on my arms and legs and face stinging but I ignored them. I didn't attempt to wipe the little trickle of blood that ran down the side of my face; just the smell of it would draw him directly to my position so there was no point. _But I couldn't see._

Something snapped behind me and I tried to turn in a circle and spot him, but I could barely see three feet in front of me. There was a bush and….a pair of glowing, red eyes.

I froze and stared. Neither of us moved. Then he came forward a little more and I automatically backed away. He was so disgustingly, heart-wrenchingly sexy as he stalked towards me. I felt heat begin to pool and I felt a burning hatred towards my pathetic body. Why couldn't it react the same way my mind felt?

I tried to run but my feet were frozen to the ground. After a couple of seconds I realized that it wasn't my fear that was stopping me. _It was something else_. I looked down at my legs in confusion and back up at him with panic evident on my face. He smiled at me and I could see his fangs bright in the darkness.

The smell of her fear was intoxicating. It was her mouth-wateringly sweet scent mixed in with the spicy, sharp smell of adrenaline. Delicious.

I didn't even bother to stop myself when I reacted automatically and chased her when she shot off into the woods. I loved the thrill of the chase and I could hear her heart beating in loud fear, giving away her every position.

She was crashing through the undergrowth and she was alerting everything in the forest within half a mile of her presence. I smiled when I heard a particularly loud crash I could hear the mice and birds fleeing the noise. Then the smell of spilled blood hit me.

I didn't have time to steel myself. My human charade flew out of my mind and I took off through the woods. I didn't see my surroundings until I saw her crouched over herself in a heap on the ground. She pushed herself up and I could see the scratches on her arms and her face seeping that sanguine deliciousness. I waited until she spotted me before moving clear of the bush that I was standing in.

The girls eyes opened wide and she didn't move. Her fear sent another spike of adrenaline through her veins, making my body tense like a drawn bowstring in anticipation. But still I waited. She stumbled a step backwards and I locked eyes with her and forced my will upon her. She looked at me then down at her legs in confusion when she realized she couldn't move. When her brown gaze swept up back to mine I saw her freeze completely, trapped by my gaze. I smiled. Perfect.

As I stalked closer, I could see that her eyes betrayed her feelings. They were fearful and they tracked every step I took. How strange. Most humans would have just frozen at the sight of my eyes and melted in any resistance they would have had. But something about the way this human refused to give in struck a chord in my memory.

A foot away from her, I leaned down to look into the chocolate depths of her eyes. I was somehow managing to restrain myself from sinking my fangs into the girl's long, dark brown neck. I stared a while longer, looking into her eyes, but I was unable to remember whatever it was. Oh well.

I leaned down towards the girl's long neck and pressed my fangs into her skin. The scent rising off of her skin along with her dry, radiating heat was making me deranged. How I had managed to hold on to myself so long was beyond me.

Right as I was about to pierce her satin skin, a new scent hit me. This scent made me hunger in a different way. Arousal. I breathed deeply and moved to bite her – only to hear the sound of her crashing through the undergrowth with her smell clinging to every blade of grass she touched. She had managed to throw off my will during my pause.

I leaned back and smiled. I was going to wear her out. When the girl collapsed from pure exhaustion, I would have my meal then.

I couldn't get enough air. My lungs were burning and I knew I had been running for hours. My mouth was parched and my vision spun sickeningly every time I had to jump over a fallen log or reverse direction because of the glimpse of red in front of me.

I gasped and pulled energy out of my body to rejump the log I had just crossed. I could hear him laughing. It came from all around me, behind me, to the front and a couple times – when I had glanced at a tree – I had seen him there, perched and watching. It was as if I were a lab rat running an endless maze.

I jumped a tree again and made an abrupt turn – or at least, I tried to. My momentum carried me further and didn't have the energy to steady myself. My left shoulder slammed into a trunk as I turned right. My chest burned as I tried to pump my stinging arms faster. I could now hear him in the undergrowth behind me, purposely making noise. Sometimes he was quiet and I would think he was gone and stop only to have him stalk out from the undergrowth in front of me.

I couldn't think; I was dying. Cold sweat coursed down my back and my face mixing with the blood. My feet stung immensely and I knew they were in bloody shreds by now but I couldn't afford to stop and tend to them. Twice I passed a pond and the water was so alluring in its dark coolness. I could imagine the liquid enveloping my burning feet and relaxing them. I tried to go towards it – just to dip my feet in the mud around the edges – but he had been there, waiting for me and shaking his head with a dark smile and blood red eyes.

I jumped another tree (was it the same one?) and I tasted blood in my mouth as the impact of the landing jarred my whole body. I coughed and staggered trying to regain my footing. I stumbled on and kept running. Tears streaked my face and I couldn't see what was in front of me.

At the last second I saw a tree bigger than the rest and jumped. I managed to land on it but my legs wouldn't hold my weight and I fell forward and onto the ground.

The impact drove the air out of my lungs and my limbs couldn't comply as I screamed at myself to get up. My arms raised my body, shook, then gave out and I dropped back to the forest floor.

_No! No!_ I screamed inside my head. I began to pull myself forward with my bloodied hands. I couldn't let him get me!

Something wrapped around my ankle and dragged me backwards. My hands grasped at the sticks and leaves in my attempt to grab something, but nothing was stable. It filtered through my fingers and made my palms sting.

I was hauled up and pressed against a tree. I had no more energy, but despite that, I tried to wiggle away, doubling my efforts when _he_ appeared in front of me and trapped me against the tree.

His eyes had none of the amusement or the arrogance that they had held the first night he had come to me. Now he looked me over almost viciously. His eyes raked over my body and his teeth were bared and I could hear a low, feral snarl coming from deep within his chest.

When his eyes dragged themselves back to my face, I could see that his brilliantly red eyes held no recognition for me; he was gone. Another thrill of terror shot through me and suddenly his face was in front of mine and he was dragging his smooth tongue across a cut on my cheek. I flinched but held still. Even I wasn't stupid or desperate enough to piss him off like this. I wasn't even sure who _this_was.

He pulled away and the look in his feral eyes made me shiver. They were half closed and he looked drunk from just the little that he had tasted. But his grip on my wrists against the rough wood of the tree was no weaker from it. I could still see his fangs and his teeth were still bared at me, but the sound coming from him was lower and not as menacing.

I felt my body shiver from the pheromones that came off of him. He leaned towards me and the smell of his breath invaded my mind. It was the pure scent of him. It was unique. Marcus had his Axe; my dad had his old spice. Dalca's scent was in a group all on its own. It was some spice I couldn't identify. It was faintly reminiscent of cloves but something floral was mixed with it. The result was a deliciously spicy scent that tickled my sense of smell.

It had intensified. That was the only explanation for as he grew closer to me I could feel my mind shutting down. _He's going to kill you or molest you! Stay alert!_ I screamed everything I could at myself but it was all fading away to a distant murmur.

The murmur ceased altogether when he leaned forward and captured his lips with mine. My mind was confused for a moment when I realized that the lips that touched mine were warm and not cold. My breath caught and my legs wobbled. I couldn't even fight him as he drew my still bloody tongue into his mouth and sucked on it. This was very different from the first time he had taken my lips. That first time he had stolen them from me and it had been anger from me and just arrogance from him. This was different. He was lazy and passionate. He was stronger than me in this state – what with me having been run ragged – and to my horror, everything about him was over powering me.

My body shivered again and he moved to kiss me more thoroughly. I pushed my body against his and reveled in the pleasure I got from just brushing against him.

Yet somewhere in the back of my mind there was a discomfort. Something was wrong about this. There was something that I shouldn't be doing for a very good reason. I couldn't remember it though. It was important, but there was a thick, Dalca-scented haze in my head and I couldn't think.

A bolt of pleasure ran unexpectedly through me and I arched my back, moved my lips from Dalca's and cried out. His had had slipped into my old soccer shorts and from there, my underwear.

He rubbed the bundle of nerves in a circle and my legs gave out as my eyes closed. It felt so good. A finger slipped inside me and I felt as though my head was going to explode. He pumped it in and out so fast and when he added a second finger, I screamed as I felt his teeth tear into my neck. The bite sent me off the edge of a cliff. Lights exploded behind my eyes. I came so hard and fast my head spun.

It had taken no time at all for me to even get aroused. I felt shame flood through my hazy mind. I could think again.

His fingers slipped out of me and I felt myself grow light headed from blood loss. I felt my body growing weaker and weaker and the forest around me was dimming and blurring. I had to say something. He would kill me otherwise.

I opened my eyes. "Dalca?" I mumbled though heavy lips.

At first he didn't respond and I felt my legs give out. He caught me and held me up as he finished. He pulled away from my throat and gave me his red gaze. His eyes were fathomless and as he picked me up to cradle me in his arms, I heard a contented almost-purr vibrate my body as it came from deep in his chest.

"Why?" The whisper escaped my lead-weighted lips.

As my eyes closed I could see him above me, his eyes losing their red and returning to the normal mismatched green and amber.

"I don't know," he whispered so quietly and I felt something touch my cheek.

And that was the last thing I knew.

_**Tell me what you thought. I really DO like reviews so ACTUALLY TELL me what you thought instead of attempting to send me telepathic messages that never seem to reach me...**_

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	7. Chapter 7

_**Here's a little treat for you guys. This next part is ALL DALCA.**_

_**Hope you like!;)

* * *

**_

I looked down into the girl's sleeping face. I could recognize her now; Natasha. But for the first time in over seven centuries, I felt it. The moment it washed through me I tried to bury it. I hated it. I had forced myself to grow out of feeling that and for good reason. My father had tried to explain to me that if I buried the feeling of respect for humans, of respect for life in general, I could never come to learn and think about the impact my actions had on others besides myself.

But now, after seven hundred and thirty years to have this feeling wash through me again—just the notion of it shook me to my core. What was this girl that she could wake these feelings in me after seven centuries?

As I looked at perfect skin, I saw the scratches, the blood, and the dirt. And I felt remorse. Just a tang of it. But it was tangible enough.

BUT IT MADE NO SENSE!

I saw her blood still dripping from the twin wounds in her neck. On an impulse without really thinking about what I was doing, I leaned down and lapped at the punctures. Her taste exploded across my tongue but I ignored it and continued, my mind only focused on one thing. I froze and pulled away a second later when I remembered what doing that signified.

What the hell. I must be really losing it after eight centuries.

I could feel the warm heat of her blood pulsing through my body and dripping down my chin. I felt it replace the energy I had drained after the warping of time and space I had induced.

My body was absolutely _humming _with power. I concentrated on the image of her obnoxious friend's attic room that was a few states away. I clenched my teeth as I felt the fabric of space-time wrinkle then rip. I jumped through the rip to her friend's room.

As my feet left the woods and moved to the hard wood floor, I felt the intense vibration that had threatened to make Natasha sick only a couple of hours ago. When I stood fully in Josephina Munerez's room, I closed the rip behind me and felt the drain on my energy. There was hardly any. I blinked a few times in confusion.

To leap like that through created rips in the space-time continuum was immensely draining. If a human tried it, the energy stored in the flesh of their bodies would be consumed in a millisecond. I was one of the few of my kind who could do it, but I was limited to about five jumps before I went temporarily insane with hunger. But this time, right after devouring her, I could still feel the hum of new energy that was usually gone after a heavy use like that.

I checked Natasha, who stirred in my arms. I wanted to make sure she wasn't going to be sick again after the jump. But she was so far under I doubted that she heard it.

I felt the disgusting feeling wash through me again. I had taken so much from her, that if she hadn't called my name when she did, I probably would have drained her. It was a good thing I hadn't jumped twice. The energy drain would have forced me to kill her from one feeding when I lost it. I stared at her face for a while longer battling with myself. Why was I upset at the thought of accidentally killing her? I did that occasionally, so why was this bothering me?

There was a strange whistling noise and I looked up and saw a metal bat swinging towards my head. I shifted Natasha in my arms and reached up with one hand to catch it. I recognized it as the same metal bat that I had half-crushed earlier. The middle of it was barely an inch wide.

I looked at the holder of the bat. Josephina Munerez. Her eyes were wide and frantic and bloodshot. I could smell the salt of fresh tears on her cheeks and the adrenaline rushing through her veins. It wasn't as delicious smelling as Natasha's and it wasn't flowing freely where I could smell it openly.

Josephina was panting and I could see the bat trembling in her hands. She was afraid of me. I could see that much in her eyes. She was taking in the sight of me holding her dead-looking unconscious best friend in my arms with her blood on my mouth and my bite wounds in her neck.

"She swallowed hard and moved her lips but no sound came out. She tried again.

"What did you do to her?"I heard Josephina rasp. "Is she...?"The she didn't finish her question. Her eyes looked haunted.

I didn't feel inclined to answer the distraught girl seeing as how she had managed to piss me off in a matter of minutes. She reminded me of the head of the Senate. A person who you thought had your back, but in reality, was only with you for the benefits that could be reaped. I could see that she truly cared for her friend, but her personality pissed me off.

I walked around the girl and ignored when she scrambled out of my way. Her eyes followed me warily. I strode over to the bed and set Natasha down on the green comforter, gently placing her so not to jar her.

I slipped my arms from under delicate frame her and leaned back. She was so beautiful. I felt that feeling rise again within my chest and I tried to keep my face blank as I looked at her body.

She was torn and scratched. Her shirt had so many holes it indecent. Her shorts had lost their original color and were brownish. Her shirt was stained with blood and dirt. Her straightened dark brown hair was tangled and in a mass behind her head. I could scent the muted red-brown stains of her delicious blood from where I stood. That and the sweat and the dirt and scent of the forest that still covered her. And on her faintly, I could smell traces of my own scent.

She was injured because of me. And for some reason, I was angry at myself for causing her pain.

I whipped around suddenly, disturbed at myself. Why was this happening to me?

As I stalked over to the window, I could hear the fearful panting of the other human female in the room. I looked over at her. She had pressed herself into a far corner, as far from me as she could get. She didn't open the door and she just stared at me. I could still smell her fear, but her eyes didn't advertise how frightened she was now. No.

Her eyes were accusing. She hated me with all her heart for what I had done to her friend. Her eyes spoke **volumes**about what she was thinking. If she were stronger she would have tried to kill me. Just that look almost made me laugh from the thought of her attacking me. But I held in my laughter. I had some respect for the girl. She had laughed in the face of danger, whether out of ignorance or stupidity, she still had.

I glanced back towards the unconscious Natasha. Unsure whether or not I should do something. There was a frantic scrambling noise and Josephina was suddenly there, bat in hand, and in a defensive pose. She was determined to stop me this time – should I come back – or die trying.

I felt more guilt spike through me and I growled at myself. _Get a grip, Dalca._ I told myself. _She is one insignificant human who was presented as a debt to you. STOP CARING._

I turned on my heel and launched myself out of the window. I landed on the roof of the second story and continued silently over to the roof of the next house. I felt the lethargy that accompanies heavy blood drinking weigh on my limbs but I refused to go back to my hotel.

I growled at the surroundings I was presented with. I hated America for precisely this reason. All the houses were the same: new. The horizon was not split with thousand year old cathedrals or mountains, but new modern sky scrapers. I felt a sudden intense longing. I wanted to be at home and look out over Biodola and see the sunset in the bay from my house on Elba. My mood continued to spiral downwards as I neared Chicago. I was taking my time getting back to my hotel that was downtown. As I traveled by roof top nearing the city, the smell of pollution increased and I wished more than ever to be back at my home. Then it began to rain. I stopped on the edge of a skyscraper and looked down on the Chicago River. I could see the distorted lights of the buildings reflecting on the rain pelted surface of the dirty water. The smells that reached my nose made me want to retch.

My mind, unbidden, turned to Natasha. Beautiful, small Natasha. Why was I thinking of her like that? What was wrong with me? I knew this wasn't just something natural like love. My world was far too cruel to throw something soft like that at me. This was an obsession that was forming. The moment I got back to Italy with my prize, I was going to try and contact Arron. He of anyone I knew would know what was going on. I had a theory in my mind but there was no way that what I was thinking could be possible and a conversation with Arron would prove it.

I sighed and wondered if Natasha would let me kill her father. Then I snorted at myself and wondered why I needed her permission. I was probably going to kill him anyway. And I didn't, someone else would do the job for me; he had other enemies besides me. But I wanted to make it slow. Make him suffer. Why? That didn't make sense. Maybe I should kill him, but he had not done some grievous wrong that required me to torture him. I just...suddenly had an urge for revenge. To get revenge for someone who couldn't...

I shut my mind down. I was tired and my body was beginning to shut down to process the blood intake and I would soon be under an eight-hour blood induced coma on the top of a building if I didn't get indoors. I dropped from the top of the building the three hundred or so feet to the ground, landing with a muted "spish" in a puddle. No one saw me; the streets were basically empty at five in the morning. As I stalked towards the entrance of the hotel, I couldn't help but wonder. Why had I even made the deal in the first place? And the image of Natasha's face popped into my mind.

I growled.

What the hell.

_**I really shudn't have to repeat this but people are STILL reading this and not saying anything. Come on. Is it really that hard? Are your fingers THAT tired?**_

_**Sorry...just tell me. trust me, the more pestering i get, the faster I will post. ^_^**_

_**Oh and one more thing. This was the last section that I had pre-written. So everything after this is in the process of being written. The next piece is already partially written, but it might take me a little while. If it seems like i'm dissapearing, don't hesitate to remind me to keep writitng. I intend to FINISH this story and knowing people also want to read it motivates me like nothing else (seriously, you have no idea). So if I'm gone for more than say 2 weeks between postings, please, bombard me with messages. I check my email everyday so there's no way I can miss them. So till next time (again prolly sumwhere around sunday or monday hopefully).**_

_**Silverfurred**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Here you all go. This but is a little lengthy... But before you read.. I just thought I make a quick little shout out to all of the people who are anonymous and I can't respond to….**_

_**Sassysue: Don't be ashamed. If you thought it was hot you can bet ur butt a lot of other people think so too! ;) At least…I did anyway. And I'm the writer! ;)**_

_**Andrea: many thanks for your reviews! And I'm happy that you like my story. I hope you like this next bit.**_

_**Smokey: Thank you, thank you! I hope you like this part too!**_

_**Psychic: Thank you for reviewing and I hope you like all of the parts that you have read so far! ;)**_

* * *

I could hear something in the distance. It was a voice, I think. It was saying something, but the words made no sense and they were so far away I wasn't sure f I actually was hearing it or not. But it got louder and I could feel something shaking me. Rocking me gently from side to side.

I cracked my eyes and looked up. I could see a face above me. It was out of focus at first but I blinked blearily and my vision cleared. But I wasn't sure what I was looking at. Whatever was shaking me wasn't gently rocking me. It was yanking my shoulder back and forth and made whatever I looked at blur with too much motion.

The shaking stopped suddenly and the face above me came into focus.

Josie. She was shouting at me but her voice was distant and I wasn't sure what she was saying. It sounded like another language. As her voice gained substantiality it my ears I realized it wasn't just my imagination. I had no clue what she was saying.

I groaned and tried to sit up but my body protested. It wanted to go back to sleep and my mind was agreeing. I was tired but I felt relaxed. Like the warm haze you find yourself in after a long warm bath on a cold day. I didn't want to do anything.

As I let my body flop back on the bed, content to listen to what it was telling me, Josie lunged and caught me and pulled me into a sitting position against my will.

I frowned blearily. What was her problem? I asked her but I could feel my lips drag against each other as I spoke and slur the question. I tried again.

She stared at me in shock and she looked confused. She said a word but I wasn't sure what it meant.

I asked again slower and asked why she was freaking out so much.

My mind was still in a thick lethargy and I had trouble focusing on her words as my body and mind tried to succumb to sleep again.

She shook me and shouted in my ear. I winced and realized that I must have fallen asleep again. I looked at her starting to get peeved. First she wakes me up, then she won't speak normally and now she won't let me go back to sleep. Geez. Why couldn't she just speak English and get her point across?

When the word 'English' went through my mind, my vision whited out and a rush filled my ears. I looked around wildly, not sure what was happening.

But about five seconds later, it was gone and I could see.

"What the hell just happened?" I asked Josie.

"Finally! English!" Josie was looking at me like she was pissed off but tears were streaming down her face and I could see that her eyes were red from crying. "I thought he might have brainwashed you or something. At first I thought he killed you even though he said he didn't and –" She sniffed heavily and continued. "I-I'm s-s-o _sorry_!" And she proceeded to sob into her hands for a few seconds.

As she did, I looked down at myself. My shirt was in tatters and there were brown bloodstains covering my shirt. And my pants – were those my old soccer shorts? Geez. They were a greenish brown that I knew was never going to come out. Then my body stung I could suddenly feel every scratch and scrape I had gotten in my mad dash –

I froze suddenly. I remembered. I sat there frozen and all of it rushed back to me and my head spun. I didn't move.

"Tasha? I'm sorry. If you want to go home, go ahead just…tell me what I can do to make this better. Please I'm so sor -" I held up my hand and she fell silent, her face still a mess and tears streaming down her cheeks. For a fleeting moment, I wondered where the girl that had stood up to Dalca had gone. This seemed that part had been taken and left only a sniveling girl in its place.

I got up and walked out of her room without another word and I heard her resume sobbing as I left but she made no attempt to follow me. As I left, I found my bag and grabbed a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt and some underwear and headed into her bathroom.

A minute later I was in her shower, the hot water making my injuries sting before my aches and pains began to soothe. The snarls and leaves and twigs in my hair began to ease out and the water ran brownish for a good ten minutes before it ran clear and it was then I reached for her Herbal Essences.

As I washed my entire body thoroughly, I focused on keeping my mind blank. I could think about the whole thing when I got out.

Forty five minutes later, I stepped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around my body. The steamy air swirled around my face and breathed it in, sighing in rapture.

I reached for a comb then. I took another fifteen minutes slowly easing the snarls in my thick hair. When it was combed into a soft afro, I pulled it back into a pony tail and snapped the scrunchy around it, not caring that it was still damp and would probably drip water onto my back for the next two hours. I couldn't hide from what was out there.

I had to face it sometime.

I left the bathroom and dropped my dirty clothes in my bag. I paused right outside Josie's door, then returned to the bathroom for a box of tissues.

She didn't notice me when I walked in. She was still sobbing. I handed her the box of tissues and she looked at me with bleary eyes. She opened her mouth and I held up a hand.

"Wait." I said and took a breath as I found the right way to phrase what I wanted to say in my head. "Look. I'm not going to stop being friends with you. I love you Josie, you're like my sister and everyone makes mistakes. I _am _mad at you because I was trying to tell you to stop but you didn't any way. I understand that you were pissed at him but _seriously_? The bat was kind of a bad idea…I mean it was nice that you tried to protect me and all but insulting him is what ticked him off just enough, you know?"

She nodded and blew her nose.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered after a moment of hiccupping sobs.

I leaned over to hug her. "Honestly, I think that was his aim originally. Your interference just stopped him from doing something worse than what he could have done."

I thought about it. When she had attacked him with that bat all those hours ago, he had been about to molest me again. Later on of course he eventually did but at least it wasn't in front of Josie. I had no doubt in my mind that he wouldn't have held back just because Josie was there. He seemed like he wouldn't have cared less.

I released Josie and she blew her nose again.

A few more minutes passed and after I fended off a couple more sobbing apologies she Josie finally managed to calm down to talk enough without hiccupping every other word.

"So what happened?" She said rubbing her already reddish nose with a tissue. "All I remember are red eyes and waking up on the floor in my room with the window still open and you gone. Where the hell did he take you?"

I opened my mouth and paused. Then slowly I answered her.

"I….don't know. He grabbed me and then I was standing on a grassy cliff that looked over the lake. Or…._one _of the Great lakes. I'm not sure if it was Michigan or not…"

Josie held up her hands for me to stop. "Wait, wait. None of that made any sense. You said he held you in his arms and you were suddenly on a cliff overlooking one of the great lakes?"

"Yeah. He didn't use the window at all. It was like he teleported. My feet never left the ground." I paused and thought for a second, trying to remember the sensations that had been going through my body. "There was this really intense vibration and when he let me go I almost threw up. I fell to my knees….and there was grass underneath me."

Josie just gave me a really skeptical look.

"Come on! You can't tell me that after all the shit we've seen with this one guy that you can't believe that he teleported me somewhere? _Seriously_, Josie?"

"Alright, alright. I believe you. Sorry it's just…I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this whole thing. You obviously spent a little time with the guy since you don't seem to be questioning his existence every second you talk about him. I'm still wondering about the whole thing."

I took a deep breath to prepare myself for what I was about to tell her.

"That's not the worst part," I said with a defeated sigh. There was no way to truly avoid it. She was my best friend, and I had to tell someone.

So I did. I told it in an emotionless tone that I later realized resembled the way that Dalca had told _me_ about it.

"I….Tasha…." Josie was looking at me with pity. But I didn't cry. The worst part of the whole thing was that she wasn't surprised. Well _damn_ did _everybody_ know?

"How much did you know already?"

"Tasha..I—"

"How much?"

"I didn't know about the bargain thing, I swear. I knew about the gang thing. It's just….everyone around here found it really obvious that he didn't love you as a father and that he was involved in some less than honest business deals, Tash. I mean, no school functions, no parent teacher conferences people coming at all hours of the night. He wasn't even _home_ for you, Tash. And when he was he ignored you.

"Everyone knew that you thought he loved you because you believed his lies. And we knew that he was all you had so no one told you. You seemed happy living you life under the veil you had placed over yourself so no one wanted to tear it down.

"You'd come over and we'd sometimes see the bruises and ask what had happened and you would say something about how you had made 'daddy' unhappy and that he had hit you and that it was your fault but that it was all 'okay now'. You never seemed to realize any of it so no one told you the truth. I'm sorry Tasha….I really thought you would figure it out yourself when you were ready."

I was silent. They all…_pitied_ me? I knew Josie was my friend but….they had never told me. Not my neighbors, not Josie's mom, even Josie herself. I felt myself tear up but I pushed it down again.

I forced myself to speak nonchalantly, as if I wasn't upset.

"Oh well, I don't care anymore."

"What? Tash are you sure—"

"I said I'm fine, alright?"

She looked like she was about to argue again but she sighed in defeat and said, "alright, Tasha."

I wanted to go to sleep again very badly. My mind just wanted to shut down from information overload. Not only was I still trying to process the whole thing about my dad and how he had a past I knew nothing about, it turns out everyone knew that he didn't really love me and had a bad past. That is….everyone but me.

"Do you want to know what happened after he told me?" I asked Josie in an attempt to hide my weariness and seem like nothing she had just said had affected me.

She nodded enthusiastically. I almost laughed.

I could see that she was trying to cover up her pity and worry for me. Were both faking and I was happy with that for now.

I told her the rest of my story and I got up to where I had passed out from blood loss.

"And that's all I can remember other than you shaking me to try and wake me up."

Josie was quiet for a long moment before she began to speak.

"I thought you were dead." She said softly. I could see that she was deeply disturbed and her eyes were far away. "When he came back with you, you were limp in his arms and you were paler than I'd ever seen you. I mean like really, _really_ pale. Which is rare for you, you know considering your black and all. But you were so pale and you were covered in cuts and blood and—" She took a shuddering breath before continuing on in a whisper. "I thought it was my fault." She shivered and I could see the horror in her eyes.

"Then the next thing I saw was him and I remember picking up the bat and trying to attack him with it. But he caught the bat like last time and then basically ignored me. He walked over to the bed and put you down but he stood over you for a long time just looking at you." She suddenly looked thoughtful. "I think he was feeling some regret as he left."

"Regret?" I had no idea what to think. Different emotions spiraled through me and I could only name a few. Anger, happiness, confusion, and satisfaction were the only ones I wanted to name. The rest of my emotions infuriated me too much. How dare I feel such things after what he did to me? I was mad at myself.

"Yeah," Josie continued still thinking. "He had this uncertain look on his face when he was leaving and he actually turned back like he was worried about you and the look on his face said the same."

"What did he do?" Actually wondering what he did thought I told myself I was only wondering because I was worried about what he might have done to Josie afterward.

"Nothing. I managed to get between you and him with the bat. I thought that he might be going back to do something else. When I made it clear that I was either going to stop him or die trying, he left."

Josie still looked haunted. She had dark circles under her eyes from the sleepless night and her eyes were red. I knew I probably looked worse. My arms and legs were riddled with cuts and I didn't even want to think about my face.

We were both silent for along moment, lost in thought. I could feel my eyelids begin to weight themselves again and I yawned. I was exhausted both emotionally and physically.

"Hey Josie, I'm going back to sleep again, alright? I'm barely awake as it is."

"Yeah you go ahead," she said but made no move to do the same.

"You aren't going back to sleep?"

She gave a little shudder. "I'll try. I'm going to have nightmares, though."

Oh I could definitely understand that. I knew I was going to have nightmares about this whole thing. But as it was I was just too damn tired and I was willing to risk it.

As it happened, I didn't dream at all. I was so tired I slept like a rock and I was glad for it. Josie didn't look like she had had my luck. There were still dark circles under her eyes and she jumped at every sound. There was a haunted look in her eyes. When I asked her what she dreamed about she just shook her head silently.

We had ended up sleeping through the whole day. Or at least I did. Josie was already awake from her nightmares by the time I got up…which was at about four thirty that same afternoon.

I packed my bag and I decided to leave at around five thirty. Josie's mom offered to drive me and I accepted. Josie was no condition to drive. She didn't even register that I was really leaving until I told her that I would call her later. Even then, she gave me a distant look and went back upstairs to try and get some sleep.

As we pulled up in front of my house I could see my dad's car in the drive way. I immediately tensed. How could I deal with this now that I knew everything? That he hadn't loved me for years and that he had ordered people's deaths….the whole thing?

I took a deep breath as I got out of the car, trying to let all of my fears float away. I knew that if I went inside too high strung I would snap like a rubber band.

When I walked into the house, I could see dad sitting of the couch reading a magazine. I ignored him. _He doesn't exist. He did nothing. Just ignore him._

I put my bag in the hall and began to take off my shoes. Shane, who was lying in the front entry way looking forlorn, leapt up and wagged his tail. I petted him and ignored the sound of Dad putting his magazine down and getting off of the couch.

"There you are. I can't believe you would go out when you knew we were coming home."

I turned around and said nothing. I didn't even look at him. I walked past him on my way to the stairs and I saw his eyes widen at the cuts and slashes on my face and arms as he did.

"What the hell happened to you?

I snapped.

Whipping around with a vengeance I looked him in the eye for the first time in 3 weeks. As I did I felt emotions hurl through me. Happiness that he was home, which was immediately outweighed by hurt that he would have bartered my life like he did. Then the overwhelming _rage _took over.

"You know _damn well_ what happened to me," I snarled.

Dad's face lost color faster than Josie's had when Dalca was about to attack her. His voice came out sounding strangled when he spoke again.

"Did someone come to the house while we were gone? Someone named—"

"Dalca?" I finished for him in a hard voice. "Nope. He didn't come to the house. He didn't tie me to my bed and molest me. He didn't almost kill Josie. Dalca didn't run me ragged and almost kill me. He didn't do _anything_."

Dad was speechless for a moment. His mouth was open and he just stared in wide eyed fear. Then his face hardened and he looked at me with dead eyes. So this is what I had missed. Had I really been so oblivious and blinded by my own love for my father?

"If he molested you it is your own fault. You probably provoked him. He isn't one to do anything without a reason."

I saw red. How _dare _ he?

"Are you _serious_? You must be joking. You barter off _my _life to some vampire and he comes to _collect _me, but instead he molests me because he pissed at you for not being there and it's _my fault_? What kind of fucked up logic is that?" My voice cracked as I yelled, but the effect was still there.

Dad looked astonished. Then I realized that this was probably the first time I had ever spoken to him in an even _slightly_ disrespectful tone.

I looked at him with disdain. I couldn't even view him as my father right now. Even as I stared at him, I could see the astonished look turning into one of no emotion.

"You disgust me. You have never acted like a dad to me. All you ever have done is ignore me. And now I see that you bartered my life off like it was worth nothing…."

I just stood there and I could feel my anger slipping away along with my grip on my composure. I wiped away a few tears that had rolled down my cheeks without my noticing.

"I can't even talk to you," I said my voice cracking against my will.

I turned and walked up the stairs, the tears were coming faster now and I didn't want him to see them. He didn't deserve my tears.

Downstairs I could hear him shouting for me to 'get back here young lady' but ignored him. If wasn't going to act like a dad to me all my life, then there was no reason for me to acknowledge him as one now.

I went into my room and shut the door. I felt the tears flowing down my cheeks and I could hear them hitting the _pit pit_ting against the floor as the struck the wood. I walked over to my bed and sat down. A broken sob escaped from my chest and I tried to hold it in.

_No, _ I reminded myself. _He doesn't deserve my tears. _

I heard footsteps coming towards my room and immediately scrubbed my eyes with a sheet on my bed. Dad was never going to see me cry in front of him again.

The door opened – of course there was no knock—to reveal the woman my father had married a few years ago. Mildred. Step-bitch.

She was always made up and she was like that now. Her brown eyes had bags under them from the long plane ride, but her makeup was still in place….along with the fake smile she always had for me. I hated her and the feeling was mutual. My dad had failed to tell her that he had a kid when she married him. I hadn't been invited to the wedding. Hell I hadn't even known there had _been_ a wedding. At that time, I had thought that dad didn't want me to come because he thought I would rather stay home for something like this. He was right, I would, but I had never even _met _ the woman until he had come home spewing shit about this woman.

This had been their fourth honeymoon.

Mildred looked around the room with disinterest, almost disdain. When her eyes finally made their way to mine, I just stared at her and raised one eyebrow. Translation: What the _hell_ are you doing in my room?

"Look, Natasha. I heard the whole thing downstairs and I just wanted to say that you know that your dad was under a lot of pressure when your mother died and he had no place to put you. What else was he supposed to do when there was a debt to be paid?"

I looked at her hard and working to keep my voice emotionless I said, "Put me up for adoption. I would rather have other parents that love me rather than one that doesn't give a shit about me."

"Watch your language," Mildred said her heavily mascaraed eyes narrowing. Then she continued. "Your are making such a big deal out of this. It isn't as bad as your making it out to be."

I looked at her dubiously and in my most detached bored voice I said, "You _must_ be joking." I just stared at her for a long time and she said nothing and tried to stare me down. She wasn't going to win this. This was_ my_ fight!

"Do you have _any idea_ of what I have gone through in the past few days? I was _molested _twice by the man my dad owes. He attacked my boyfriend. He attacked my best friend. He ran me ragged and drank my blood." I stopped for breath and then ripped off the bandage that covered Dalca's fang marks. I heard a ragged gasp come from her and I felt some grim satisfaction though I was in a little bit of pain. "These are from him, both sets. As well as the other scrapes and cuts you see on my face all because of him."

She looked horrified and then I saw her resolve strengthen and she stood up a little straighter.

"Darrel told me that the man you say you met…Dalca? That he never does things without a reason. I think you did something to provoke him. Yeah," She said nodded to herself.

"What the hell? What could I have _possibly _done to provoke him to drink my blood, molest me, and attack people I know?"

"Well," she said, her eyes narrowing in disgust. "I can see what your Darrel was talking about when he said you have an attitude about this entire thing. No wonder he finds it hard to love you."

I didn't realize what I was doing until the lamp from be nearby desk smashed into the door where Mildred's head had been a second ago and a scream of rage filled the air. It took me a moment to figure out that the screamer was me.

I stood there by my bed for a full five minutes with my chest heaving. Rage seemed to have replaced the blood running through my body because that was all I could register for a while. White hot rage.

I finally moved ten minutes later when the anger had finally drained. All it had left behind was an empty shell. I was exhausted. And even though I had slept the day away at Josie's house, I was falling asleep on my feet.

I shuffled over to my white dresser as I shed my clothes everywhere. I told myself I would pick them up later. I pulled an old t-shirt over my head and fell into my bed.

I fell asleep almost immediately.

_Red flowers. I was standing in a field of red flowers. Not just any red flowers, my favorite flowers: Morning Glories. But these were the most vibrant I had ever seen. I leaned down to look at them closer and I realized that I was wearing a white dress as it swirled around me. A single flower had at least three different colors within its velvet petals. The outer edges were a bright red, like too red lipstick. The main part of the petal was a blood red that blended in the center to form a dark red almost black color. It was beautiful._

_I looked up and around at the flowers and their scent filled the air. The field seemed to extend forever. It wasn't so much a field as it was rolling hills. But it was a beautiful red sea of flowers._

_My neck prickled. Someone else was here. I knew he was. I could feel it with in my bones._

_I turned and I saw him. He was fifty feet away, just standing there watching me. But there was something distinctly different about him. I couldn't tell what it was from where I was so I went forward to see. I felt no fear as went towards him, yet the closer I got the more I could tell that there was something that had changed from the things that I had seen of him so far. The closer I went the more right it also felt, but I didn't bother to comprehend any of it._

_I reached him and he looked down, his mismatched eyes bored into mine but there was something about his look. It hit me in a rush. There was no cynicism in his gaze. It wasn't his cruel look that he had given me when he had nearly killed Josie. It wasn't the lost look that he had when he had been caught me in the forest. But it held traces of all of them. Different parts of him. But he hid nothing, he just waited there and it was when I sensed the tension._

_If I chose him he would be relieved. If I turned and ran until I couldn't run any further, he would chase me, no doubt. He wasn't human, and there was no trace of the charade he played in front of the humans. This was HIM. He was dark but he was beautiful._

_My hand floated up as I gave in to my body's screams to touch him and I put my hand on his face. His shoulders which I hadn't realized were tensed relaxed and I felt a profound sense of peace when I touched him. His eyes closed and his hand moved to cover mine. I saw his lips turn up in a smile that was almost a smirk yet not quite all him._

_He then moved his hand away and still gripping, pulled me down to lay with him on the sea of red flowers. His hand was warm against mine and I didn't question it. It was right and this moment was beautiful._

_I closed my eyes for a moment, but a shadow covered my face. I looked up into Dalca's green and amber eyes. His hands were on either side of me but they didn't hold my wrists._

_I licked my lips and I saw his eyes following my tongue. Then he leaned down slowly and he gently touched his lips to mine. There was no urgency in the kiss. It was just slow and burning. It was frying my nerves and I couldn't think._

_Suddenly he deepened the kiss. His tongue slid slowly into my mouth. But I didn't resist. I liked it. I didn't mind at all, I kissed him back and I could taste him. He smelled like the flowers mixed with some sort of spice. It was delicious._

_A low moan escaped my throat when I felt his hand brush my breast. His lips smirked against mine and he moved away. He looked into my eyes but I stilled. His eyes had turned a terrible red to match the flowers. He smiled at me but his eyes raked over my body now. It was not unlike that time where he had lost himself in the forest, but the difference was that I could tell he recognized me._

_His lips descended once more only this time they brushed my throat. A small shiver ran through me as well as a little sound of appreciation. I stretched my neck out, inviting him to bite me. I WANTED to feel his teeth….but hadn't I been fighting this earlier?_

_To my surprise he lingered at my throat, nipping and I could feel the points of his fangs dragging against my skin, but he didn't bite. He slowly trailed further south and he pulled the dress away from my breasts and stared at them like he was starving._

_He lowered his head slowly. Too slowly. I could feel his breath on my nipple which stiffened immediately. But he just looked. My body began to ache._

_"Please." I whispered, my breath making my chest heave._

_His tongue darted out to brush against me and I shivered again. He smirked and lowered himself down to engulf me in his mouth. I felt his fangs brush me again and again and I felt him sink his teeth into me._

_I cried out in pain and I looked down at him in surprise before a bolt of pleasure made my body jerk. I shook and shuddered as I came, just from his biting my breast. The white dress I wore had drops of blood on it; it was ruined._

_Something floated on the edges of my vision. I looked over and I froze I saw a little boy standing near us. He had to be about twelve or thirteen. But he was staring at something with tears in his eyes. His body was tensed and he threw his head back and wailed to the sky. I heard it from a distance but it pierced my heart in too many places to count._

_I saw fangs in the boys mouth. He turned suddenly and growled and I could see someone else enter the scene. My heart stopped in shock. One of the boy's eyes was an icy green and the other was amber._

_"Why did you kill them? WHY?" He screamed at the other person who had entered the scene._

_He didn't wait for an answer and launched himself at the person. There was a blur for a couple of seconds and it ended with Dalca holding the man's decapitated head in his hands. He was spattered in blood and the corpse of the man lay nearby, blood gushing from the headless neck._

_Dalca turned and I could see what he had been looking at. A woman in a very old blue dress was laying dead on the floor. A man's body lay over hers as if he had been protecting her as he had died._

_I saw the boy's shoulders slump in defeat and he dropped the head as it slipped out of his hands._

_I felt a tongue drag against my chest and I was yanked back to the present. What had just happened? Dalca was staring at me from my chest still drinking. His red eyes bored into mine and I tried to comprehend what he was trying to tell me when another flash to the side of me made me look again._

_There was a girl. She looked to be about fifteen and she was walking down the street. It was dark and a shadow detached itself from the wall near her and leapt on her. I could hear a muffled scream the cut off abruptly as the girl fell to the ground. I watched transfixed an unable to move. Then he stood. Blood dripped from his mouth and was all over his shirt. He looked to be about 15 now. The scene changed again and repeated itself only with different girls and different time periods._

_I looked down at Dalca who had stopped drinking and stared at me with his terrible red eyes. I tried to run from him, this monster. I scrambled backwards but his hand grasped my wrists and pressed me into the ground mercilessly. His eyes were the same as they were earlier. Sincere and he hid nothing, including his possessiveness._

_"You are mine and no one else's. You can never escape me."_

_I screamed as he __kissed me. I could taste blood. My own and other's._

_"NO!"_

I bolted upright in bed, sweating. I looked around in a panic and I shuddered in relief when I was in my own comfortable bed.

It was…all a dream? That had been awfully vivid. I shuddered and remembered the blood of other's. The taste was still in my mouth.

I stretched and winced as I felt pain. What the hell?

I pulled down my shirt and a horrible shudder ran through me.

On my brown skin surrounded in red….there was a bite mark.

* * *

_**Reviews, reviews! I can't live without them. I hope I didn't take too long to get this part up. Remember, if you don't hear from me for more than two weeks, PM me. Becuase nothing is more inspiring that pissed off readers threatening me! ;) Till next time!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Hello, everybody. I have been working away on this section for the last two weeks and It's finally done. It should have originally been longer believe it or not. But I had to stop here because the entire section isn't finished yet and the rentals' are threatening to take my computer. I am currently at my Grandparent's house in San Antonio Texas and there is NO WIFI here! ...ok I lied. There IS wifi but it's only against one wall of the house that we can access it. A foot away from that wall, no wifi. Anywho, I promised myself (and a bunch of other people) that I would get at least part of this up tonight and here it is! ^_^ **_

**_Now, on to responding to people who I can't respond to other wise:_**

**_Psychic: I hope you like this section! ;)_**

**_vampfan3oh3: This is to save myself from your angry PMs! I'm very glad you liked it tho! ;)_**

**_sassysue26: You're just gonna have to wait and see when he figures it out...and sorry, it's going to be a little while. He's dense when it comes to things like this sadly..._**

**_Jane Doe: Lol. I don't think your crazy. I do that too sometimes where I randomly comment on certain sections and forget to comment on others. And about the line break thing...When i did this in word, I had little symbols that represented Dalca and Natasha that let me know when there was a line break. I didn't really notice that they hadn't transferred over to Fanfiction and I havn't gotten a chance to fix it. But by the time you read this they should be fixed...that is if my parents don't kick me off my laptop. ^_^  
_**

**_Nia: Lol. Thank you for saying something. ^_^ And thanks for all of your _famous_ editorial help. _**

**_Patty and Fernanda: I would love it if u guys actually gave me a review. Though I do enjoy getting texts *coughFernandacough* , frantic calls at 12:30 P.M. trying to discuss my story with me are funny the first time...then weird the other 5 *coughPattycough*. So send me a review that way I will definently get it. I'm still amazed that you guys actually liked my story!_**

**_Now...on with the show!_**

* * *

I opened my eyes slowly. My body was tensed and angry. She had run. She had really tried to run from me! I showed her the things that shouldn't have bothered her if she was the girl I thought she was. But she had run in horror. And I was pissed that she had run.

I leapt out of bed and paced the floor, growling. What was happening to me? I had wanted her to disregard my past, however bloody. I had wanted her to be the one. But no! After all these years to finally want someone, to _wish_ that she would accept me...only to have her reject me. My heart ached. I felt a little hope flare up against my will. If the dream was shared like I suspected it was, then that was a sure sign that...

I snarled. _No! _ What the hell did I think I was doing? There was no way that a _human _could be the one. There was no possible way. My line would not be sullied in such a way. My blood had to remain untainted and pure, no matter my past was and what important people I had killed. It was the expectation of my whole world. It was _my_ expectation. I honestly didn't give a flying fuck about their opinions. But if I were to take Natasha as my mate...I couldn't help but shudder. Just the thought made me sick. But not only that; If I did take Natasha as a mate, my world would kill her, To _mate _with a _human..._that was the lowest my kind could go.

I stopped and looked out of the window of my penthouse suite at the top of the Hyatt on the Chicago River. The only thing I could really feel was confusion. There was no hurt. I wouldn't allow myself to hurt over something this trivial. She was only a human.

But...that didn't answer my question. What was happening to me?

* * *

I sat there in bed for a long time. I couldn't muster the will to move. My mind continually replayed the dream in my mind. It had been far too vivid for my liking. I could live though the occasional nightmare. Nightmares were figments of my imagination, and no matter how realistic they were, I had no problem dismissing the events in then as such.

But with all of the events that had taken place recently…it disturbed me that when I woke up I wasn't sure if I was still dreaming or not. There was _his_ bite mark on my chest. But I was pretty sure that I hadn't left the bed.

I sighed, feeling a headache coming on. I lie in there in bed for a while. I wasn't willing to go downstairs and deal with what was waiting for me down there.

About thirty minutes later I heard the widows rattle when the front door closed. A few seconds later the sound of a car door closing followed.

I sighed in relief. So they were gone. I could breathe again. I finally got out of bed and slowly made my way over to the bathroom. Before I even pulled down the edge of my shirt, I could see the redness of my neck from the bites. But it was redder than it had been earlier. Then I remembered his nipping my neck during the dream. I couldn't remember any pain but that confused me because he had to have nipped around the bite marks.

I pulled down my shirt and I could see the other mark. It was as deep as the other two but it didn't look as bad for some reason. I couldn't help but wonder how it had come to be there. I mean, of course I knew how it got there. But hadn't I been dreaming?

I felt my head throb and I closed my eyes shutting out the sight of my body. It confused me too much to see the evidence that a _dream_ had actually taken place.

I left the bathroom without a second glance at the mirror and decided that I was going to try and forget the dream, or at least put it out of my mind.

My stomach growled and I happily replaced the confused thoughts about the dream and Dalca with thoughts of food. I hadn't eaten in more than twenty four hours.

I trudged down the stairs. Though it was nearly two in the afternoon, I couldn't get the enticing image of eggs and bacon out of my head. I even managed to crack a smile at the thought.

The smile was wiped off my face when I glanced out the front window.

I could see Marcus's car out front. Marcus wasn't in sight so that meant that he had to be on his way up to my door to knock. I froze.

I knew that I could either run and hide, or I could confront him. Deliberating, I didn't move from the spot. Then the door bell rang.

I didn't move. Should I answer it? Was the door locked? Mildred had this _really _bad habit of not locking it.

I went carefully to the door, thinking that if I pretended I wasn't home, he would go away.

"Natasha, I know you're in there. Your dad told me to wait and that you would be out later." There was a pause as he waited for some answer, but I was too horrified to move for a moment. "Natasha?"

I heard the doorknob jiggle and the door swung open. I took a step back in shock.

Damn. Mildred hadn't locked the door…_again_.

Marcus's head peeked around the door and I saw his eyes survey the room and fall on me then run up and down my body in its nearly unclothed state. I just stared horrified. I was still in pajamas which consisted of polka dot boy shorts, and another old t-shirt.

His body followed his head around my door and he closed it behind him, his eyes never once meeting mine.

I took a step back when he finally looked at me.

"Why didn't you get the door when I rang the doorbell?"

"I-…" I swallowed and tried to say something.

It was too soon for me to be thinking about this whole thing. Marcus had been pushed out of my mind completely by everything. He had seemed inconsequential compared to my dad, and Josie, and…Dalca. I had bigger things to think of than my lying, cheating boyfriend.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" I tried to think back. I hadn't planned anything with him for today had I? I attempted to think of the events that had passed before the incident with Dalca a day ago.

"Remember, two days ago, you said we could _hang out_ yesterday. I came by, but you weren't home and your cell phone seemed to be out of batteries or something. I left a message on your house phone telling you that it was rescheduled to today. So…here I am."

Was he serious? The ghost of a headache that I had felt earlier flared up in full force.

"Ugh." I pinched the bridge of my nose and wished this whole thing would go away. I opened my mouth to say more, but he interrupted me.

"What the hell happened to you? Why are you all scratched up?"

"None of your business," I snapped at my wits end. "Look. I really don't have the patience for this today. So if you could just—"

"None of my business?" Marcus said incredulously. I realized the reason that it had taken him so long to respond was because he was stunned that I had said anything remotely rude to him. Exactly like my Dad. I felt some satisfaction from his shock and I promised him in my head that it wouldn't be the last time he would hear rude things from me.

"Yes. None of your business," I replied with conviction.

"I'm your boyfriend?" He asked it as a question, glaring at me as he did.

I laughed. Now _this _is what I should have done the first time Josie warned me about him.

"You know what Marcus? I've had enough of your lies. I'm done. It's finished. You still have Latisha, and I'm sure there's someone else and her, so there's no issue if I just leave your little harem, right?"

Marcus looked like I had just slapped him across the face. I couldn't help but smile. Everything I had just said released a weight in my chest so heavy I felt as though I was about to float away now that it was gone.

"Wait, wait, wait. So you' telling me that I waited all this time and I didn't even get to pop your cherry before we break up? This is bullshit!"

I barked a laugh. "No. You know what's bullshit? Us breaking up. We didn't break up. Nope." I shook my head. "Not at all."

He narrowed his eyes. "We…didn't break up?

I shook my head and smiled cheerily. "Nope. We didn't break up. Not even close, Marcus." I stepped forward and got into his face. My voice lowered as I spat in his face, "I _dumped_ your ass. _We_ didn't do anything. It was all me."

Marcus looked like he was going to blow a gasket.

"I didn't wait this long to get dumped," he growled. I later realized that I missed the warning in his tone.

"I'm sure you have other girls to screw. And it's too bad about popping my cherry. Someone beat you to it." I stuck my tongue out at him.

Then something slammed into me. I was completely airborne for a full second before I landed hard on the edge of the coffee table. My side jammed into an corner and the pain made my vision go white.

I could hear him talking and I tried to hear him through this loud gasping noise that wouldn't stop. I realized it was me. There were no tears, just pain.

"You _bitch_! You fucking _slut_!" Marcus's voice had taken on a murderous tone. "I waited for three fucking months and you go and fuck someone else?"

I tried to open my mouth but all that would come out was a gasp. But Marcus seemed just too pissed to say anything for a second. And I knew he was probably just standing there fuming.

I found strength and managed to whisper, "I lied."

"You—what?"

I didn't say it again. Just breathing made a sharp pain go shooting through me. It was like the stitches you could get in your side from running. Only this was about a hundred times worse.

There was a long and pregnant pause.

"So you lied, huh?" I just nodded, still gasping on the floor. "I don't believe you. So I think I want to confirm it on my own."

It took a moment of listening to Marcus's heavy footsteps cross the floor before I realized what he meant.

Oh shit. Oh _fuck! _

Against all odds I heaved myself halfway up to see him approaching._ Fuck_! I felt a wave of sickness wash over me. He was going to rape me. He was really going to rape me! A wave of icy hot fear plunged through me like an arrow. I had to move!

I scrambled backwards as he lunged. I ignored the blast of pain that speared through my side as I threw myself backwards blindly. Marcus missed, but he wasn't injured and half starved. I scrambled backwards again, trying to get my legs to work well enough to run. My body was quaking in fear. I turned over and planted one foot against the floor.

As I heaved myself up, Marcus's hand wrapped around the ankle that was holding me up and I smashed to the floor. I felt my chin smash against the ground but luckily teeth missed my tongue when they crashed together from the force of my fall.

My vision darkened and I must have blacked out for a moment because when I came to Marcus was on top of me ripping my shirt to pieces.

I realized what was happening after a moment of confusion and brought my foot up hard to the fork between his legs. I squirmed, trying to make enough room between my body and his for me to wriggle away.

By now I was in a blind panic, the only thing my mind could think of was one word on a broken record: _RUN!_

He grunted and my vision flashed bright red and black as something slammed into my head. I tried to curl into a ball, to protect myself in some way. I heard a sob and my mind didn't automatically register that it came from me.

But Marcus took the sound as another sign of resisting. He hit me again, this time in my injured side and I couldn't even sob through the pain.

It hit me slowly as my exhausted body began to hoarsely scream in pain. He was going to kill me. Then I realized that sound was actually coming from my mouth.

"_Shut up!_" Marcus roared at me. He stopped his actions for a moment, but I could barely register that much. I was nearly incoherent with pain and I was struggling for consciousness through my pounding head.

"What the fuck is this?" I could hear Marcus asking me but I had no clue what he was talking about. I felt a brush on my breasts and my neck. Then it dawned on me that he was probably just seeing Dalca's bite marks.

I could then feel hands fumbling at my underwear.

What? What was he doing? It was uncomfortable. Stop…he should stop.

"Shut up!" I heard him growl. I could hear a sound in the background and suddenly, Marcus's weight was gone. The moment it was, my body curled into a ball and I couldn't help a few helpless sobs that escaped me.

The next sounds I heard were a loud crash and a deep snarl that came from right in front of me. I opened my eyes and I could see someone in front of me. There was only one person who it could be.

"Dalca?" His name was so faint that I myself barely heard it. But he turned slightly and looked over his shoulder eyeing me with one red eye.

He didn't look human. He was snarling and he assessed me with one eye, looking me over. I just stared from my position on the floor grateful tears streaming down my cheeks. Our eyes caught and his red eyes stared into mine. A sound made him whip around so fast that I didn't realize what he had done at first. I was just suddenly staring at the back of his head.

I could hear snarling and Marcus' voice. I forced myself to sit up. I could see Dalca slowly stalking Marcus in a circle. His fangs were bared and his eyes were red. I watched suddenly seeing the danger of the situation. Dalca was a predator. And he seemed to have a personal grudge against the prey he was stalking.

I saw Dalca lunge but barely. My eyes almost didn't catch the blurred, miniscule movement. But I heard the crunch. Marcus clutched his forearm and howled in pain. It hung at an odd angle.

Then the realization came: Dalca was going to kill him.

I didn't know what I was doing but I was suddenly pushing myself up and I stood. I swayed on my feet fighting unconsciousness from the pain. Trying to push it away, I staggered over to Dalca who at the part of the circuit that was closest to me.

"Dalca!" I gasped out. "D-don't kill him!" I lurched to a stop on the edge of Dalca's circuit and I waited. Dalca's blood red eyes flicked to me then away as he continued the circuit.

No! There had to be something!

He came closer and I did the only thing I could to force a reaction out of him. I lunged and managed to catch his arm. He caught me and he held me up. I looked up at him and I saw no waver in his resolve. He wasn't going to leave Marcus alive. I could see that much in his eyes.

I had an idea. It was crazy. It was ludicrous. And it probably wasn't going to work, but I had to try. Marcus would die otherwise. I hated him with a passion now but I wouldn't be able to handle it if I saw Marcus literally torn to pieces in front of me. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

I reached up and grasped his face. Our eyes met for a moment, brown to deep scarlet before I pressed my lips to his.

The feeling that swept through me I can only describe as feeling perfect. It was as if I was always supposed to have his arms around me. As if I was only supposed to kiss him. I sighed in rapture as I momentarily forgot my pain.

When I kissed him, I felt him freeze and then wrap an arm around my waist to hold me up as I began to fall. His lips began to move against mine urgently. I felt a brush against my injured side and I gasped in pain.

He broke off and leaned his head against mine. I fought the unconsciousness that threatened but I was losing. I looked up into his red eyes as my eyelids fluttered. The feeling of rightness was fading but it returned to some degree when I looked into his eyes.

"Don't kill him," I whispered softly. "Please, no more killing." I could only hope that he knew that I was talking about my dream of him.

I collapsed. For the second time, the last thing I saw was Dalca's red eyes.

* * *

I pulled up in front of Natasha's house and leapt out. I had gotten a car for the sake of inconspicuousness since I couldn't run there in broad daylight. But I wasn't focused on that.

There were strange sounds coming from Natasha's house. There was a gasping noise and I cocked my head listening. I could hear clothing tearing.

I heard scream of pain that made my body go completely cold. The voice was Natasha's.

"Shut up!" It was that boy. The one Natasha called her boyfriend. I had never bothered to learn his name. Either way I was going to kill him. Slowly.

I wasn't sure how I got inside of the house. I wasn't paying attention. I must've jumped through a rip in space-time because neither of them seemed to notice I had arrived. All I could hear were the sobs that came from the girl splayed out on the floor.

The boy was crouched over her and had pieces of her shirt in his hands. His hands strayed towards her waist and paused.

"He said something but I too enraged to listen to the words. He was _hurting_ her. No, he was going to rape her. Could he not see the bite marks? Could he not smell me on her?

I leapt across the room and grabbed the back of his neck and threw him. He yelped as he collided with the couch midflight and flew with it to smash into the far wall.

I bared my teeth and snarled in warning. That should be clear even for a human. I could hear Natasha sobbing behind me and I blocked her exposed body from his view.

"Dalca?" I heard her pained whisper.

I turned to look at her, keeping my body turned towards the disgruntled boy who was slowly getting to his feet. I stared for a long moment, assessing her condition. Her face was starting to bruise which was impressive. Her skin was dark enough that you would have to hit her pretty damn hard to bruise her. Her shirt was nonexistent and there was a cut and a bruise on her side, but it was clear she didn't know she was bleeding yet.

I heard the boy get to his feet and I whipped back to growl at him. I closed my mouth before he could see my fangs, deciding they would serve my purpose in killing him slowly later.

I stood and stalked over to him. I could smell the fear coming off of him and was making me deranged. I gave what I knew had to be a demonic smile, flashing my fangs at him. And the smell of adrenaline filled the air, nearly covering the enticing scent of Natasha's blood.

I circled him.

"Who the fuck are you?"I could smell the fear fading somewhat. He thought he could win in a fight against me because he thought he was bigger. I would have laughed if I wasn't going to torture him to death in the next few minutes. No rational question of why I wanted to do this crossed my mind. It was a knee-jerk reaction. He touched her, therefore he was going to die. Simple logic.

I lunged and jabbed my hand into his forearm in a whiplash motion. I felt his bone snap messily and a moment later I heard his satisfying howl of pain.

"Dalca!" D-don't kill him!" I turned and saw Natasha standing – no wobbling would be a better word – next to me.

She wasn't going to be standing for very long, I could see that much and I wanted her to lay down since she was obviously hurting herself by standing. The blood from her side wasn't flowing as freely now which relieved me. But she was still in a lot of pain.

I turned back to the boy. I would kill him for hurting her. I heard her move but my gaze stayed trained on the boy. I felt her hands grab my face and I turned towards her. Our eyes met and I saw the desperation in her chocolate ones before she leaned up and pressed her lips to mine.

Once the initial shock passed, I felt a warmth in my chest and the fury melted away. She was kissing me willingly!

Elation swept through me as I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her back. I slid my arm down to her waist but I heard a gasp as I felt her warm blood touch my skin. I broke the kiss and leaned my head against hers, not bothering to resist the roaring happiness that was flowing through me. I looked into her eyes.

Her eyelids were fluttering and I felt her hands slip from my face.

"Don't kill him. Please, no more killing." And she slipped into unconsciousness.

I was worried for a moment that she might have a concussion, but I realized that she probably just worn out from the pain and the fact that she had to still be anemic from the amount of blood I had taken from her two nights ago. The remorse fluttered through me but it was quickly swamped the rage that reignited in my chest.

I gently picked her up and placed her on the couch. She would be fine for a moment until I could get rid of the trash that was lingering.

I turned back to him. I remembered his name now. I remembered it from when he had dragged her by the arm from the movie theatre. I almost killed him then. I _should _have killed him then.

Natasha's blood was still on my hand and I could smell it, but I ignored the intoxicating scent. He was the cause of her pain and I let that thought resonate through me until I was angry enough to kill him.

I glared at him and I saw him get to his feet unsteadily. He cradled his broken arm and his dark skin was paler that I thought was possible.

We looked each other over for a while. I said nothing. I wanted to hear his words.

"Who the hell are you?" His voice was pissed even though I could smell the fear coming off of him. I relished it.

"It's not important," I said dismissively. "What is important is why you were trying to rape her."

Marcus's eyes narrowed and I almost smiled.

"I don't' see how that's any of your business."

He spoke in Ebonics and the 'I don't' came out sounding like 'Ion't" and 'your' was 'yo'. Of all of the accents I had listened to over my rather extensive lifetime, this one had always interested me the most. It was obvious that he didn't have to speak that way for his grammar was perfect. But I could never understand why anyone would alter the language in such a way if you already could speak the original language correctly. The language alterations of Ebonics added words that didn't exist and combined three or four words at once. I had my own accent occasionally, which I was still trying to get rid of. When I learned a language I preferred to learn it completely without any mispronunciations. I couldn't help but alter certain words, but I couldn't see why you would do it purposefully.

"It is my business considering the girl is mine," I couldn't help but growl at him.

Marcus raised his hands. "Look, dude. I don't know how much you paid for her, but she's my girlfriend so if you'll just back off, no one has to get hurt."

"It's too late for that, Marcus." My voice had taken on a deadly tone. I knew that if I wasn't careful, I would kill him purely out of reflex. My instincts seemed to be screaming at me to do it. It wouldn't be hard to relinquish my self control and go with it.

The boy's eyes narrowed. "How the hell do you know my name?"

I laughed and I could tell it wasn't a nice sound. "You don't remember? Pity that you can't remember the one who humiliated you in front of that full theatre."

"That was you?" His voice raised in anger and I laughed when he tried to rush me and went pale when he jostled his arm in the first step.

"Careful," I warned in a cynical tone. "You don't want to piss off someone who's deepest wish is to slowly torture you to death."

The air was suddenly swamped with the smell of adrenaline as he remembered that I had broken his arm. He tried to back away. But it caused him too much pain with his broken arm.

"What _are _you?" I found it hilarious that he had a disgusted look on his face while his voice shook in fear.

"Well I'm not human if that's what you were wondering," I said smiling at him. His eyes grew as he caught a glimpse of my fangs.

"No," His voice was strangled. "No, y-you're not supposed to exist." The fear was rolling off of him in waves now.

"Unfortunately for you, I do exist."

He tried to move. His fear was an almost palpable thing. I could taste it on the air and he was quaking as he tried to back away from me without jostling his arm.

"I-if you hurt me, y-you'll be going against what Natasha told you to do," His voice shook and I could tell he was grasping at straws. He knew there was pain coming,

I laughed and smiled demonically. "She asked me not to kill you. She never asked me not to _maim _you."

His eyes grew wide and he scrambled back in fear as I stalked towards him slowly...

About half an hour later, I dragged bloody, unconscious Marcus out to his car. I tossed him in the backseat and – after checking that no one was coming - I hooked my hand under the front bumper and dragged his car a couple of houses down. It was a good thing that this community was so out of the way, with very little traffic around this time of day.

When I set his car down, I heard a muffled groan from inside the car. I didn't bother to look. I was a little embarrassed that I had derived so much pleasure from his pain. I managed to keep myself to killing him, but I had come very close.

After a moment I did peer through the back window. With a disgusted sigh, I realized that he probably would not survive if he didn't get some attention within the next few hours.

Disgusted with both him and my own lack of control, I opened the door and rifled through his pockets until I located his cell phone. I proceeded to call the local hospital asking for an ambulance. I left no explanation. By the time an investigation was launched –if one would be launched (hopefully this kid would have the brains to keep his now broken jaw closed) – I would be long gone and Natasha would be with me.

I was back at the house in a matter of seconds. I slid my arms under Natasha's small frame and went to her room. It wasn't hard to remember where it was and her delicious scent seemed to have soaked into the walls.

I paused at the door and took a deep breath. I shook my head and tried to pick the faint scent of the boy's blood that still lingered on my skin out from the heady scent that filled the room and focus on it.

When I placed her gently on her bed, a puff of her scent was blown towards my face. I stiffened and stopped breathing.

_Dammit._ I had never had this lack of control before I had met this girl. What was happening to me?

Rather than contemplate that for what had to be the hundredth time within the last two days, I turned and stalked towards the bathroom down the hall. I scented for a first aid kit and went back to her room, trying once again not to focus on her scent.

When I placed the kit on her bed and stared at her body, a deep shudder ran through me.

As I stared at her injured body, I felt the intense need to go back and finish the boy off. I shook my head. Now that I was free of the bloodlust of the moment, I could think again. I began to clean the cut in Natasha's side.

What the hell had I been doing? Why did I want to kill him? What was my motive? My earlier logic had made sense in my mind. I hadn't bothered to think. I just went with whatever my instincts told me. But why? I had no problem doing that, but why was this girl suddenly influencing me as if my world revolved around her? Why did I care whether or not her boyfriend tried to rape her? She was just another human, right?

But was she _her_? Was it possible that this girl could be that girl?

I denied it. Pissed, I growled under my breath.

I didn't _want_ this. I didn't want to have to deal with the trouble that had come with this girl. I didn't' want to deal with her or any of this.

A realization came to me: I should end her life here and now.

I put down the alcohol soaked cotton ball that I had been cleaning her side with and moved one hand to gently hold her jaw. All it would take was one little twist. One twist would break her fragile neck and end every part of this. I stared into her little brown face. Her hair was splayed behind her head and my bite marks were splayed along her neck and across one breast. She was beautiful but I told myself that there was always another.

I fixed my resolve and tensed the muscles in my arm to twist her neck farther than it should go.

A screech filled my head, and I was on my feet backing away so fast that my back hit the opposite wall. The screech ended the moment I moved my hands from her jaw. But its echo repeated itself in my head.

I knew what it meant. My hands covered my face and I let an angry hiss escape. But only a moment later the anger faded it faded.

"Naiba... " I growled in my native tongue. I slid my hands down my face and looked at her. She was in the same place. Nothing had changed, yet _everything_ had changed.

"_Naiba,_" I swore more vehemently.

Slowly, I unfroze and walked back over to her. I glared down at the half naked girl that had so thoroughly uprooted my life. Slowly I sat back where I had before and picked up the alcohol soaked cotton ball. I stared at it and then back at the shallow cut in her side.

I continued to clean it. I worked emotionlessly, barely managing to keep my mind clear. I put gauze over it and went to get ice from the freezer downstairs. I wrapped some in a hand towel and went back upstairs.

I paused before I entered the room, reminding myself not to focus on the scent that parched my throat.

Only then did I step forward. The ice clinked as I pressed it to her bruised side.

I sat there for hours. I wasn't sure how long because I didn't bother to look at a clock. But the wall across from her window took on a reddish tint as dusk came and turned to blue as the the room darkened further.

The ice that I had been pressing to her side had long since turned to water and I hadn't moved from my position.

I heard her breathing pick up and I forced myself to stay and not bolt as she began to wake.

* * *

_**The first person who can tell me what language Dalca was speaking gets a cookie! ^_^ **_

**_But like I said earlier, this was originally supposed to be longer and the next section is 80% done so it should be up within the next few days. _**

**_Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New year to you all! _**


	10. Chapter 10

_**It is SOOOO good to be back. For those of you who didn't know, I was on a short break cuz my school is stupid and has finals 2 weeks after winter break. I know that some of you are probably really pissed at me, but all I can say is sorry and that I hope you like this next section...heh heh.**_

_**Anywho, I failed epically on my promise in my LAST author's note to have the next section up within the next few days and all I can say is that I had to study for finals. Sorry. But I'm here now finishing this because for the first time in like 40 years our school is having a snow day! :D And not just one snow day which was epic enough, but 2 IN A ROW! Which NEVER happens in Chicago. And for those of you who are wondering, in northern America there was a MASSIVE snowstorm which halted all travel and shut down schools. It was a huge blizzard and it was freaking epic. That's why we up north are partying all night cuz 2 snow days = a second winter break up here.**_

_**But anywho, I knew there were a BUNCH of people who would try to kill me in my sleep if I didn't get my ass up and finish writing with such a beautiful opportunity at hand, so that's what I did.**_

_**Now, onto responses to people I can't send replies to.**_

_**Natalia: Ur character's coming up soon. ;P What did we say we were going to call her again? I forgot...^_^;**_

_**Alicat: Thank you for loving him! Believe it or not not everybody does...Crazy ain't it?**_

_**Sammi Jo: Nice try but no. It's Romanian. U get a piece of cake for trying. ^_^**_

_**Keeko: I'm glad you think he's got potential! Some people have lost all hope already and it depresses me. But oh well. I'm glad **_**somebody**_** likes him. :)**_

_**Now, on to the long awaited CHAPTER TEN! Knock your selves out! :D**_

* * *

There were two things I noticed when I first woke up. One, my head hurt like a bitch. That was all I could register for a good while and I didn't move because every small movement of my head made stars dance behind my eyelids.

A few minutes later I noticed the second thing. My side, which was also hurting pretty badly, was cold…because someone was pressing something cold against it.

My hand drifted down and touched another hand that was holding a bag of icy cold water to my side. I knew who it was without looking. I didn't know how I knew, but I did.

I cracked my eyes and observed my surroundings. I looked up at the ceiling. It had a bluish tint to it and I realized that a lot of time had passed. Slowly, I turned my head to look up at him. He was reaching across my body, pressing an icy bag to my side.

My gaze met his and he just stared down at me without moving. I tried to decipher what he was thinking. But he was brooding. There was an emotion swirling right behind his mismatched eyes but I couldn't tell what it was.

For the longest time we just stared at one another. I got the sense that he hadn't moved from this position for hours. He didn't even seem to be breathing.

I tried to remember what had happened before I had passed out. Marcus had attacked me. And Dalca…Dalca had appeared and had looked like he was going to kill Marcus….so I had kissed him and asked him not to.

I felt embarrassment flood me. I had had no reason to do that. It was an idea that I hadn't thought would work. I paused in my thinking process. _Had_ it worked? Was Marcus...?

I worked, trying not to shudder at the thought, but more questions came to my mind like a flood. Why had he shown up when he had? Why did he almost kill Marcus? I thought back to the moment when I had stumbled up to him as he circled Marcus.

He had looked at me with red eyes; a glance that was not unlike the one that he had given me when he had chased me in the forest. It was a look that I was starting to recognize as a loss of control.

I had kissed him to make him stop and he had. But why did my kiss stop him? Why had he listened to me to begin with? Why did he even dislike Marcus? As much as I hated the idea, from what I understood, I supposedly belonged to Dalca because of a debt my father owed to him. But that didn't explain why he had showed some obvious signs of a grudge towards him more than once. He was acting…well, kind of like a seriously possessive, jealous boyfriend. Which made no sense.

I decided to say something but I was careful to file away my real thoughts for later.

"Thank you." It came out quietly, almost a whisper.

He made no reply for the longest time and then he finally moved. But his only motion was to look up and away at the wall my bed was pushed against.

I wondered why, and then I felt air on my open chest and realized that I wasn't wearing a shirt. Immediately, my arms came up to cross across my breasts.

I heard air hiss through his nose as he sighed resignedly. He leaned away and placed the bag of cold water on the floor next to my bed. Then he scooped me up so fast I yelped and before I could even struggle, he deposited me under the covers.

I was at a total loss for things to say as for him acting like a gentleman, but he wasn't finished. He glided over to the dresser and rifled through my drawers until he came up with_another_ old t-shirt. This was the third time I had been caught in a bad situation while wearing an old sleeping shirt and I was wondering if this was some sort of jinx.

He tossed the shirt at me without a word and turned around. I realized he wasn't leaving when he turned into a statue once more. After a moment of staring at his back in total confusion, I pulled the shirt over my head. He must have heard when I finished because he turned around, strode lithely back across my floor, and sat on the edge of my bed again.

He gazed at me as if trying to decipher something, but his gaze was too intense for me to meet his eyes for long.

I looked at my hands which were in my lap and tried to think of something to say, but it was hard. I could still feel his eyes on my face.

I bit my lip. "Umm…thanks...again. For saving me." The words were halting and still quiet, but at least they weren't a whisper.

There was a long pause and I was sure that he wasn't going to answer.

"Why did you not want me to kill him?" His voice startled me. It was like I had almost forgotten what he sounded like. How his voice seemed to resonate throughout my body and draw me towards him like a magnet…I shook myself internally.

"I didn't want any more blood on your hands." I peeked up at him as I said this and I saw his eyes narrow infinitesimally.

Another pause before his voice resonated through me again.

"You realize that I didn't leave him unharmed." His eyes still scrutinized me.

I looked away with a little smile. "I know." For some reason, I had suspected nothing less from him. I didn't know where this understanding was coming from, but it was suddenly there.

There was another long silence in which neither of us spoke for a good while. I expected him to leave soon, but he didn't move from his spot on my bed. It was strange seeing him in an almost normal light. I had never really seen him in normal circumstances in broad daylight. This was as close as I had come so far and he seemed very out of place in my pale purple and blue accented room. He almost seemed to radiate darkness. It drew me in but at the same time my instincts warned me to stay away. He seemed like he was more in focus than anything else in the fading light and he made no move to turn the light on; he looked as if he would be more at home in the dark anyway.

I jumped as his voice interrupted my thought process again.

"What were you doing with an insolent child like that to begin with?" I looked back at him but he was looking away now. "You couldn't sense that something was off while you were with him?"

While I had bristled when Josie had asked me the same question what seemed like eons ago, that had been before he had told me anything about my father and before I had witnessed it with my own eyes. Now I could see where he was coming from but I sort of had an explanation.

"I just blocked it out, I guess," I sighed. I brought my knees up to my chest under the covers and hugged them. "I'm just now realizing that I've been living my life without really looking at it clearly. I guess it was something I did as a child, you know with my dad, which carried over to my normal life." I felt despair nearly overwhelm me. My life had fallen to pieces so quickly it was almost funny.

A nondescript grunt told me that he had heard.

I buried my face in my knees. "God, my life has been fucked up."

The worst part was that I couldn't completely blame Dalca either. He had been the one to sort of start off this chain of events, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it had been set in motion for a longer than I realized. In fact…it was all my Dad's fault. He had bargained my life off, caused me to view life in a veiled manner, and just set off this whole chain of unfortunate events.

I wondered where Shane was suddenly, thinking that if he had been here, he would have kept Marcus off of me.

"Do you know where Shane is?" I forgot for a moment that he probably wouldn't know who that was considering he had never heard me call him by his name.

"No. His scent is a couple of hours stale." His reply was curt. I remembered then that the first time that I had ever seen him was when he had been talking to Shane. I frowned. Even considering that Dalca was a vampire who had reflexes and senses to rival any animal's, the fact that I had seen him talking to my dog was still weird.

My stomach growled. I saw the side of his mouth quirk like he was going to smirk, but it didn't make it completely make it.

Right as I was about to suggest that I get something to eat, I heard a car door slam. My head shot up.

No... My dad was home.

I felt my stress headache from earlier come rushing back. Things were converging too fast! I had overwhelming feeling you get if your grades seem to slip too far, or if you're supposed to pay someone off and the money you owe keeps accumulating; the feeling that control of your life was slipping out of your grasp.

I looked up at Dalca. He was glaring at the door and I knew from the dark look on Dalca's face that something was about to go down. Something that I didn't know about.

I heard exclamations of surprise when Dad and Mildred took in the damage downstairs.

"What the hell happened?" That was Dad.

"Darrel, you don't think…"

"No! Of course not! This was just something that happened with Marcus. I'm sure we still have time before _he_ comes for her."

It didn't take a genius to figure out who they were talking about.

Footsteps tromped up the stairs and for a fleeting moment, I considered faking like I was sleep. I glanced at Dalca and decided against it. Though I could sense anger coming from him, he didn't bother to move from his position on my bed. He just sat facing the door, waiting for whoever was coming.

Dad rounded the corner ready to lecture me.

"Natasha! What the hell happened….." Dad trailed off and stopped in his tracks. His face got so pale that it turned the color of watery hot chocolate.

Dalca rose fluidly to his feet. I could feel the killing aura in the room.

"Hello, Darrel," Dalca said in what I would have called a friendly tone if there hadn't been a menacing undertone to it. "It's been a long time. Almost sixteen years I would say."

Mildred rounded the corner then.

"Darrel? Who's that talking?" She came in and took in her husband's frozen figure and looked over at the menacing form of Dalca. Her confused look turned to one of disdain as she looked Dalca up and down.

"Wait…don't tell me this _boy_ is the cause of all of this? He barely looks older than Natasha! _This_ is Dalca?"

Dalca smiled in a way that could only be described as slightly demonic. His fangs were in plain view and his eyes flashed red. "Looks can often be deceiving…Miss Mildred."

She stiffened too and it must have gotten through her head rather quickly that he was not a force to be reckoned with.

"Darrel, my old friend. We should have a drink one day and you can tell me what you've been doing these past few years." The drink pun wasn't lost on anyone.

Though his voice was pleasant, the reason he was so scary was because he didn't directly show his anger. Everyone could feel it. I wasn't even sure that I would be able to save Dad from this. This wasn't some petty jealousy. It felt to me like dad had done something to seriously piss Dalca off.

"I heard from a friend that you were off on a celebratory vacation. Care to share the occasion?" Dad didn't say a word. Dalca shrugged in a carefree manner. "No matter," he continued. "I'll just share what I've been up to." Dalca's eyes narrowed infinitesimally as he said this. I sensed that whatever Dad had done was going to come out here.

Dalca pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and began to pace a line across my floor. Whenever he got to the end of it he would spin on his heel and continue in the other direction.

"These past few months," Dalca began, dropping his earlier chipper tone. "I have been tracking down and killing a series of assassins from my own kind that have been trying to do away with me." He stopped pacing and looked up at my dad. "Isn't that strange? Who in the _world_ would want to kill me?"

Oh shit. I knew then I didn't matter what I said. Dalca had been pissed at my dad for a long time. But he wasn't finished.

"So I had to track them back to their employer. I offered their employer an easy death if I could just get a little information on who had originally hired him. The man was smart. He gave me an interesting piece of knowledge. He said that he had been offered a rather large sum of money from a man named Darrel Watson." Dad, if possible, became even paler when Dalca stopped pacing and chuckled. "Now, I thought that there was no way that the money could have come from the Darrel Watson that _I_ know because he's not that stupid. I knew I had to be here a on a certain date to receive payment for the debt that you owed me. But I was held up a couple of weeks because there were a few people who objected to my killing the organizer of one of the better known assassin organizations of my world.

"But I thought that it was no trouble to take care of it and that when I arrived here to receive the payment late, we could clear up the mix up between us. Then of course a friend tipped me off that you had been seen boarding a plane to Fiji. I thought surely you weren't that stupid, to try and run from the debt."

He looked up then and fixed dad with a glare. Dalca's voice got quiet as he continued.

"I arrive at your house and find my payment…but at the same time I find preparations for a hastily made trip to Fiji. After I failed to show, you thought that you must have succeeded when your hit men didn't respond back and planned a trip to Fiji in celebration." Dalca's voice got deadlier and deadlier. "All the trouble wasn't even to protect your daughter. It was out of an old habit that you had of attempting to wriggle out of your debts."

Dalca stopped then next to my bed and waited for an answer from my dad.

"I-I don't owe you nothin'," Dad said in a shaky voice. "You didn't arrive on time, you don't get your payment."

Dalca smiled in a way that sent shivers up my spine. "Now you don't actually believe that do you? You didn't actually believe that if I didn't show up on time that I wouldn't receive the payment?"

Dad wet his lips and his eyes flicked nervously around the room as if looking for something. It made me think that it might have been how I looked as I crawled out from under the bed when I had first met Dalca.

Dalca reached over and stroked my hair in a way that reminded me of the way that I would pet Shane, like I was a dog. "Now, I'm going to take my payment, but before I do—"

"Wait a minute." Everyone's eyes turned to me. I had heard what he said and I objected strongly. I hadn't been sure what my being 'payment' had entitled earlier and I had been too absorbed in the horror of the fact that dad was going to get himself killed by a pissed off vampire to listen. But now that I realized that it meant that I was going to be taken away, as in_removed_ from the house that I had grown up in, I had something to say about it.

I ducked out from under Dalca's hand and glared at him and my dad.

"Hang on. I'm not going with you. I'll leave the house or something just because I don't desire to live here anymore since apparently everything that's been said since I grew up in this house has been a lie. But that doesn't mean that I'm going with _you_."

I gave him a hard look as I said this, but as he looked down at me, his red eyes gleamed in amusement, which only made me more angry.

"I'm serious!" I exclaimed, glaring at him.

He gave a deep chuckle. "I'm afraid that's not your decision to make." His voice made me shiver in the menacing threat that he carried behind it. I wondered which personality was really him: the sarcastic dangerous one, the gentlemanly one, or the out of control one.

"Look, I'll leave for good. I'll pack tonight, but I'm _not_going with you!"

There was a blur and suddenly his face was next to mine and his lips touched my ear.

"I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter, Natasha." The way he said my name made me shiver. He continued in that purring tone. "But I can't have you struggling the whole time that I'm trying to leave, so I'm sorry for this."

I hadn't realized that as he spoke his hand was slowly snaking its way up my arm and across my shoulder until it reached my neck. There was a sharp pain as he pinched my neck and my body tried to jerk away but he held onto me.

My head spun sickeningly and my vision blacked out abruptly. The last thing I remember was confusion as I wondered what had just happened….

I couldn't help but smile when her body went limp in my arms. She was as good as mine. There was a deep satisfaction that came from the thought and while it pissed me off that I was _happy_ that she was coming with me, I knew I had other things to deal with.

I swung her up into my arms and turned to face her father.

"I've decided that I won't kill you right now."

"That's so...generous of you," he said, a bead of sweat running down the side of his face. His heartbeat was still abnormally loud and fast and I could smell the adrenaline rolling off of him.

I smiled. "I've decided to be even more generous." I paused waiting for a reaction but none came. He just silently waited for the verdict. I inhaled deeply and the smell of fear had nearly overcome the enticing scent of the girl in my arms. But while Darrel's fear was great, it paled in comparison to the swamping fear that was coming off of his wife. She was frightened enough to bolt and the smell had become even more cloying when Natasha had collapsed. I forced myself not to wrinkle my nose. I couldn't help but notice that the other scents of humans weren't nearly as enticing as Natasha's.

"I've decided to give you some time. You run as far and as fast as you can and find someone who will give you an easy death. I'm going to take Natasha with me while you run. If I don't catch up to you before you find some easy way to end your life, then you get your easy death. If I manage to catch up to you...well, I don't have to explain what will happen to you if I do. But know this, if I catch you, you will wish with every fiber of your being that you had chosen the easy way out because I like to keep people alive for as long as they would live out their natural lives. That way, there is not the complaint of 'But I have my whole life ahead of me!' that seems to be so common for you humans to use. But trust me; you would be praying every second that someone would end your life."

Darrel just swallowed loudly. His wife behind him was hyperventilating and her heartbeat was so fast it was a wonder that she didn't faint. Then she did. Her eyes rolled back and her mascaraed eyelashes fluttered rapidly before she collapsed in an undignified heap.

I just laughed. "If that's the start you're getting, then you're making my job very easy." I turned towards the window and toed it open with one foot. "Well, I'll be taking my leave. I'll see you soon, Darrel." I grinned at him before I turned and stepped out of her open window. I landed on the grass without a sound and headed around the side of my house at a leisurely human pace.

I couldn't help but smile a little at the horrified expression that had been on Darrel's face as I had left. I knew that I was enjoying messing with the man far more than I should, but I always kept my promises. Well, I did if it wasn't in relation to the Senate.

But I was going to find him. I knew Darrel Watson like the back of my hand and I would bet every dollar in my numerous bank accounts that he wouldn't find someone to end his life. No, far from it. He was going to use every single one of his extensive resources to try and hide from me. The only problem with his plan was that his resources were _human_ and no human would ever be able to hide Darrel Watson from me for an entire lifetime.

I opened the back door of my car and placed Natasha in the back seat so that she was stretched out. I couldn't help but stare for a long moment, watching her breathe evenly and trying to push down the anger that automatically rose at the sight of her bruises.

I shook myself and closed the door gently but firmly so as not to wake her before jumping in the driver's seat and starting the car. I tried to squash the sense of triumph and elation that came from finally acquiring the unconscious girl in the back seat. I was unsuccessful. I still refused to acknowledge the reason for this feeling. There had to be some other explanation than the obvious.

I headed for O'Hare airport where my plane was waiting.

I showed the human at the barbed wire topped fence my pass at an employee entrance on to the tarmac itself. He glanced at it and waved me through as the gate slid open. I headed across the multiple runways until I reached the private plane area. Usually I would have had to enter through the main entrance for the executive business flights where the rest of the corporate jets were parked. But I didn't want to attract too much attention. So I had instructed Terrence to have my jet prepped for departure as soon as I texted him, which I had as I hit the expressway towards the Airport.

As I rounded the warehouse, the sleek black body of my plane came into view. From the distance, I could see that there wasn't a scratch on it even after my arrival in it several days prior. I had designed every aspect of the plane to my own specifications and I hadn't flown it until it was absolutely perfect. I prized that plane an equal amount that I did my car which was a Koenigsegg Agera.

My plane was almost brand new and Gulfstream had given me a discount since I had bought from them in the past and only wanted to upgrade from the G550 to the new G650. Not that I needed a discount. It was of no issue to pay the full price but they were trying to keep me from switching companies after I "accidentally" let it slip that I was looking into Bombardier's new line of luxury planes. They had nearly fallen over themselves to meet my specifications.

I pulled up to the side of the plane where I could see Terrence standing in the shade of one of the gleaming, pitch black wings. He looked perfectly disgusted at having to stand in fading sunlight and I could tell he was trying his absolute hardest to stay directly out of it. A smile quirked my lips when I climbed out of the car and Terrence made a face. It was well known that Terrence hated sunlight. Though he was darker than Natasha, he burned much more easily than I ever would. I had never had an issue with the sun, but Terrence preferred to work at night for obvious reasons.

I smirked as I walked around the back of the car and retrieved Natasha from the back seat. I didn't bother to pick her up in the way that I had earlier. I just slung her over my shoulder. There could be no one to know that there was something about the girl that drew her to me; she had to be just any other girl to them.

"Bad day, Terrence?" I asked, unable to keep the smirk off of my face.

His scowl grew deeper as I strode by him to the stairs that led to the cabin of my plane. My grin grew wider, as he grumbled, "Damn Purebloods" under his breath in a southern American accent.

I ducked inside and surveyed the blue, black and white accents. I moved to one of the white leather couches with blue pillows thrown over it and – moving carefully so that I didn't tip Natasha off of my shoulder – I leaned down and pulled the latch that let the couch out into a bed. I placed her gently on the supple white leather surface and placed her head on a blue pillow. I reached into an overhead compartment where I kept black blankets that further matched the décor and draped one over her scantily dressed body, ignoring the way that her breasts rose and fell beneath the t-shirt she wore. I walked back over to the entrance and ignored the steps as I jumped from the top.

I landed next to Terrence.

"Is everything prepared for departure?"

"Nearly, the pilots have just arrived and they're over there." He gestured with his head and I looked over to see Rachel sauntering over to us.

She nodded in my direction. "Dalca." She looked over at Terrence and chucked. "Bad day, Terrence?"

He grumbled and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

There was a boy following Rachel, his arms so full of bags that all you could see was a mess of dirty blond hair over the top. He set them down with a huff when he reached us. He cast a quick glare over at the setting sun like he was offended at its presence and then looked at the company he was in.

When his eyes fell on me, he froze and his eyes grew to the size of saucers.

There was a long pause and I expected him to say something as was demanded by our etiquette system, but he was too shell shocked to say anything. So with a small smirk, I started first.

"And you are...?"

He shook himself and he stumbled over his words as he tried to speak too fast. I glanced at Rachel and she was shaking in silent laughter.

"I-I-I'm muh- Miss Rachel's assistant and umm…" He swallowed loudly. "I'll be your piloting plane today." He nodded to himself as he said this, sure it was correct. Then he shook himself again. "I mean…I'm a plane copilot…yours…" Suddenly the boy slapped himself across the face and tried one more time. "I'm your copilot! Jordan! Hi!"

He bowed low and almost touched his forehead to his knees. It took a moment for me to register that he was serious. I laughed and cleared my throat when he stayed uncomfortably frozen like that for over a minute.

"It's nice to make your acquaintance Jordan." I decided to mess with the boy. ""Tell me, Jordan. You don't have any _friends_ in the Senate…do you? Because I might have to kill you if you did…" I trailed, off frightening the poor boy.

Rachel was attempting not to howl as the boys face drained of all color, something that was pretty impressive considering the boy was already paler than I was.

The boy tried to respond with something that was diplomatic and wouldn't make me angry but couldn't manage to get past the 'I' part of his sentence.

"I-I-I-I-I"

I just stared at him and I saw Terrence give the boy a look that wondered if he was all there. I'd have to remind him later what _his_ face had looked like when he had first met me.

"Jordan," I cut in after a while. The kid was visibly shaking. I tried not to laugh. "Jordan, I was joking."

"You were...," he froze for a moment as his mind tried to work through the panic to process what I said. ""Ha, ha…of course you were joking, your highness. Heh, heh. It was a very funny joke, your Highness."

My smile disappeared. Jesus. _Anything _but the 'your _Highness'._

Terrence let out a loud guffaw at the sight of my face and I knew I looked a little nonplussed from the title. God how I _hated_ that title.

"Look, Jordan," I said in what I hoped was a tone that didn't sound as irked as I felt. "Let's keep it simple. You're Jordan, I'm Dalca. Easy-enough?"

"Heh, heh." He laughed nervously. "Easy-peasy!" I tried hard not to roll my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. American's and their rhymes…I would never understand...or was that one originally British? Who knew? This was one of the reasons English annoyed me so damn much.

"Good." I turned and in doing so dismissed him for the moment. He sagged now that he was no longer being addressed.

While Jordan wobbly ascended the steps, I went over to Rachel who was leaning against a wheel still shaking in laughter.

Terrence, moving carefully so that he stayed in the shade of the wing, moved to join us.

"Where the _hell _did you find fresh meat like _that?__" _Terrence was incredulous. "I haven't seen fresh meat like that since—"

"You?" I cut in with a raised eyebrow. He looked at me gruffly.

"Yeah."

There was a loud exclamation of, "Holy _shit_, this is a _plane?_" from inside and Terrence rolled his eyes as Rachel tried again to stop herself from dying of laughter.

From the strength of Rachel's laughs this had happened more than once.

"…You didn't tell him who he was piloting for…did you?"

She shook her head, tears streaming down her face. When she finally managed to calm down, she chuckled, "He's my sister's kid. She wants him to move up in the world like I did. I tried to explain to her that the only reason that I moved up was because of your generosity. But she only laughed when I said that. Of course you understand why."

I did. It was no surprise or secret that the majority of our kind both respected and feared me. There are only a few who apparently know my 'true side' as they call it. And most of those were the two who were in my company at the moment.

"I tried to explain that if she was going to put her kid into my line of business, he has to be used to politics and have a hard skin. Those, of course, are the main two things that that boy lacks." She rolled her eyes, all signs of mirth gone. "With the way that he is he'll be eaten alive."

We were all silent for a moment before I spoke. "If you want I can find someone who's in the Aristocracy that he can work for where he's out of the political crossfire.""I knew someone who was in need of a driver and the boy wouldn't get thrown into politics if he worked for them.

Rachel looked at me with a slight smile on her face. "Dalca, you're too generous sometimes."

I laughed and Terrence snorted.

"Generous? Me? I think you have me confused with some else." I flashed my fangs in a dangerous smile as I spoke. "I just like to accumulate the profits from people who owe me later."

Rachel just stared and actually leaned away from me.

"Yeah…you actually freak me out when you do that…," She said a little warily.

I stopped and shrugged. I was a little put out by her reaction but not overly surprised. Just because I was who and what I was, even when I was joking at being threatening, my own kind backed away from me.

Rachel saw my eyes harden. "Oh, Dalca…I didn't mean it like that..." The rest of her sentence went unsaid. That it was a natural reaction to want to stay away from me.

I changed the subject abruptly when I saw concern in Terrence's eyes. Too much of this and my kind would begin to think that I was soft.

"Rachel, whenever you and your copilot are ready, I would like to depart."

I turned and walked out from under the shade of the wing, leaving them standing there looking after me.

I ignored the disappointment I felt at the fact that even people I considered to be friends were wary of me. It was nothing new.

I leapt up the stairs and ducked into the cabin to check on Natasha. I had heard her clothes rustle and wanted to make sure she wasn't awake yet.

I stopped inside of the doorway and paused for an eighth of a second before I attacked the boy with dirty blond hair that had his fangs pressed to the exposed skin of Natasha's throat.

I couldn't even think through my rage. I yanked him off of her and slammed him against the wall of the plane by his throat.

"Are you completely _senseless _boy?" I snarled into his face. He tried to rasp something but I squeezed his throat tighter so no sound came out.

How _dare _he touch her?

I could hear voices shouting at me and I knew that Terrence and Rachel were trying to keep me from killing him.

Then someone shoved something under my nose and suddenly my sense of smell was on fire. I recoiled and released the boy with a hiss. I shook my head and forced air out through my nose to get rid of the smell of ammonia.

I whirled back around to find the boy again, but Rachel had smartly dragged him out of the plane. His smell was fading but I was still enraged. I made to go towards the door and Terrence blocked my path.

I looked down at him and snarled viciously, "_Get. Out._" I wasn't sure what I would do if he stayed in the room.

Terrence gave me a look and then backed out of the cabin. I whirled to Natasha and checked her neck. There were no marks other than the ones that I had given her. Good.

A rational side of me was yelling at my irrational side which wanted to go after the boy and twist his neck slowly until his head came off. He would stay alive through the whole thing I was sure. The rational side of me was wondering why the hell I was so damn pissed about him touching the little human. My irrational side promptly snarled _She's mine! _in response.

Yeah, I was definitely going to have to question Arron about this whole thing. There was no way that she could possibly be that girl. But if she wasn't, then what was she?

I knelt beside the couch she slept on. I didn't seem to control my hand as I saw it reach out and stroke her cheek with the back of my fingers. It was barely a fluttering touch, but her skin was softer than silk. Like milk chocolate, smooth and unblemished.

I heard a noise from the doorway and I was on my feet and a foot away from her. No one could know of any of this. Though I had nearly given myself away by attacking Jordan, they would consider it to be possessive behavior towards prey. Like I was telling him to back off because she was _my_ prey and I wasn't willing to share.

Rachel was at the door. I didn't turn around to acknowledge her; I knew who it was by her scent. Had a male entered the cabin I might've attacked. I wasn't actually sure at this point. I had never been this out of control of my own body.

"Dalca?" Rachel's voice was soft, and hesitant, such a change from earlier when she addressed me with such familiarity.

My head snapped towards her and she flinched. I looked away, realizing my eyes must be red for her to have such a reaction.

"Dalca? It's alright. Jordan's fine. He didn't know." I tried unsuccessfully to ignore the part of me that growled _''Damn, no permanent damage'_ in dissatisfaction._"_

"Dalca?" Rachel asked, still hesitant.

""It's fine." I said without turning. "Rachel, please. I would like to depart as soon as possible."

I could hear her hesitate at the door, before I heard her descend the steps again to collect her copilot. I sat on the couch opposite Natasha's and waited, just watching her breathe evenly.

* * *

An hour later we were in the sky above Lake Michigan. It was then that Natasha began to stir from her sleep. But I was ready for this likely possibility. I moved over to her as she began to move. In my hand was a cloth soaked in chloroform. Her eyes fluttered open and blurrily she looked around. Her warm, brown eyes fell on me and the trust I saw in them made me freeze. Did she not remember?

I shook off my paralysis and slid the cloth gently over her nose and mouth. The chocolate skin on her brow wrinkled as she frowned in confusion. I felt her lips part under my fingers and a hand slowly made its way from under the blanket to touch mine. But that was as far as she got before her hand fell limp on mine and her breathing evened out again.

I slid my hand out from under her's and moved the cloth away from her face. I felt that damn remorse flow through me again. I had a real reason for keeping her under now so why was I still feeling guilty? The less she moved, the less she would spread the scent around the cabin and tempt the copilot into doing something that certainly make me kill him. It was a safety precaution. Yet I had this feeling that she would be a little less than pleased to find herself halfway around the world from her friends and family.

I shook my head again. _Why did I CARE?_ I had to stop this habit of wondering what would make her happy and feeling guilty if it didn't.

I looked out over the water again wishing it was the Mediterranean already. It was going to be a long plane ride if the whole thing was like this...

* * *

_**This is the the second longest section I've written. Jeez. And it took me the longest to write. I'm amazed I got this far. The next chapter will be coming though how soon is unknown seeing as how i just finished this 30 minutes ago.**_

_**A few last points. If you want to see some pictures of Dalca's plane and his car I have links posted to my profile page. Stuff like this will be appearing periodically depending on what is happening in the story. I don't just randomly come up with a lot of this stuff. I have to take the time to research it and give myself a headache until I find the perfect thing. But the links will be there and they are just to give you guys a little visual on little things that pop up in the story.**_

_**One more thing before my parting note. A friend of mine has launched a new blog page and she asked me to give her a shout out. She is a poet and she will be posting poetry by others and herself on the site and let me tell you, she is freaking AWESOME. She's gotten onto our school's Slam Team which is very difficult to do and the evidence is in her poetry. I'd like you all to check it out if you find the extra time. Thanks.**_

_**As always (and I really shouldn't have to remind you know as it should be obvious...) please leave me a review. Especially now since what happens from this point on isn't totally decided. So tell me what you liked and didn't like and also as a change, tell me what you want to see happen. If i like your idea, it may show up in one of the future chapters. Who knows? But please. REVIEW!**_

-Silverfurred


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys, so...you know what? I'll save the author's note for the end. **

* * *

My stomach growled. I was hungry. I was _really _hungry. I had that weak feeling that meant that I hadn't eaten in a long time. I opened my eyes, the first thing on my mind to get up and go downstairs for breakfast.

I stared at the ceiling.

There were two things wrong with that ceiling. One was that it was framed by a black frame with green curtains. The other was that it was a pale green.

My ceiling was pale blue.

That's when I heard the voices murmuring in the background.

I sat straight up so fast that my head pounded.

I looked around. No, this was definitely _not_ my room. So where the hell was I?

The room was white with pale green accents. The bed I was laying in was queen sized with a beautiful, heavily designed green quilt. The room had rich accents and sheer pale green curtains which floated in the breeze from a nearby pair of open double doors that led outside. The shadows were long and light filtering in was a pretty yellow and made the whole room glow. Something about it made me feel like it was close to evening.

My eyes traveled over the white wicker sitting chair in the corner, over the pair of closed pale green double doors which I guessed led to the bathroom, over the girl in blue jeans and a black short sleeved shirt…. and stopped on the vampire leaning against the far wall.

I stared at him. He stared right back expressionlessly.

"Hello."

The voice was pleasant and accented. I looked hard over at the girl who was now next to my bed. Her wavy black hair cascaded down her back in a waterfall of rippling ebony. Her skin was a pretty caramel. Her eyes were brown.

She was so beautiful she made me want to cry.

"Are you alright? I heard your stomach…you must be hungry."

Her accent was Spanish.

"What happened?" I felt completely overwhelmed. I was trying to remember how I had gotten here, convinced that somewhere in my memory there was something that would explain how I had arrived. But my mind was completely blank. The last thing I remembered was being at home with Dalca threatening to kill Dad.

The girl went on. She looked like she was around my age if not a little older.

"Do you not remember? You got off of the plane a couple of hours ago."

"Plane?" My voice shot through two octaves as I realized what must've happened. My head snapped to Dalca. "Where am I? What did you do to my dad?"

He simply raised an eyebrow.

"You bastard! Don't give me that!" I tried to growl at him but my voice cracked halfway through. I tried to get out of bed but my legs wouldn't respond. I realized then just how weak I was. I was shaking from hunger and I felt as if a little movement would upset my stomach. My throat was parched too. I felt pain from my hip and – ignoring my present company – pulled up the side of my shirt to feel what was wrong. There was a white bandage that spanned across my side.

My head whipped up.

"What-how long was I out? What did you do to me?"

"About a day." His voice hummed through me. Dammit, how was I still affected by him?

I'm sure my face betrayed my dislike of this fact because I saw a smirk curve his lips. Damn pompous vampire.

Then what he said sunk in. A day? Then where was I?

I tried not to panic. _Ok,_ I thought in an attempt to calm myself. _He can't have taken me that far in day…right?_

"What did you do to her?"

I looked up at the voice that promised danger. I realized that it had come from the Spanish girl.

"What do you mean?"

The Spanish girl looked nonplussed. "Dalca, I, of all people would know that if this girl says that you did something to her, it's not a question of _if_, it's a question of what."

Dalca looked mildly annoyed.

"Alright, so I had to put her under in order to keep her from struggling the whole time but I was entitled to that."

I opened my mouth to say something, but to my surprise, the Spanish girl got there first.

"Put her _under_? Are you insane? She has no clue where she is going and you—" The language changed here and I had no clue what was being said. I understood Spanish quite well but this wasn't Spanish.

Dalca rolled his eyes and responded in a voice that was a little closer to a growl. The girl's voice was indignant as she marched up to him and waved a finger in his face.

He threw his hands up, made an angry gesture towards me and half-heartedly slapped her hand away.

Her eyes blazed and Dalca's shape blurred as he dodged a flying punch that whirled towards his face.

What the hell?

I expected him to try and kill the girl for trying to hit him. But he simply, shook his head and walked out of the room.

The girl stood there fuming for a long moment. Then she turned to me.

In a slightly strained voice she said in English, "There are clothes on the chair over here and there are fresh towels in the bathroom in case you wish to use it. You'll…have to excuse me. I have to go and…_discipline_ your host." Then she strode purposely toward the door and I heard her voice call out once sharply. "_Dalca!_" It was followed by something that sounded suspiciously like a hard slap …but I dismissed the idea.

I was completely at a loss as to what was going on.

The human girl had tried to hit Dalca, screamed in his face about the fact that he had needed to 'put me under' for the trip, and the fact that I had no _flipping_ clue what was going on. Dalca had tried to kill Josie for less.

I sat there for a while longer still trying to dig through my memory to find something to tip me off as to where I was…but there was nothing.

My stomach growled and I stared down at it unhappily. I felt so ridiculously weak and hungry that though I wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep and pretend that this whole thing was a bad nightmare, I seriously felt like I would throw up if I didn't eat. Which was a strange feeling considering that my stomach had nothing in it but stomach acid.

I swung my legs out of bed and stood but was surprised at the strength of the wave of nausea that washed over me and the churning of my stomach. My legs shook and threatened to buckle. I held onto the bedpost until I stopped shaking and – moving slowly with a hope that it would keep my stomach somewhat settled – I shuffled towards the chair in the far corner with the clothes that the Spanish girl had mentioned earlier.

I pulled the shirt over my head with shaky arms. Once the pants were on, I shuffled over to the doors that I thought might lead to a bathroom.

When I opened the door, I gasped.

"Holy shit…," I muttered.

The bathroom was…incredible. It was also covered in green accents. But it was like a hotel in a designer magazine. There was a shower in the corner that had a glass door that went from floor to ceiling and sealed in to become a sauna. Pearlescent green and white tile decorated the walls of the shower. The Jacuzzi opposite the shower was accented with a single line of the same tile in a single belt all the way around. It had steps leading up to it and was large enough to walk around in. The sink was made of opaque green glass and was a bowl that sat on top of a black marble counter.

I don't know how long I stood there gaping. The bathroom was something straight from a designer home magazine.

I washed my face in the sink and took a deep breath. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I looked like hell. I couldn't deny that to myself. I had scratches on my face that were healing, an enormous bruise on one cheek from the punches Marcus had thrown at my face, and bags under my eyes from the stress.

After about thirty seconds, I felt as if I would burst into tears if I stared at my face for too long. I tried not to think about what had happened. My mind was starting to whir with questions and I felt a headache pound into existence.

I put the water on cold and filled the sink. I plunged my face in. I held it there and opened my eyes. The water was tinted green and I looked at the blurry interior of the bowl.

I tried hard to imagine that I was somewhere else. The green water reminded me of the sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees in a forest. So that's where I imagined I was. I pretended I could hear the chirping of birds and the chattering of squirrels. I pretended I could hear the leaves brushing against one another as they were tossed by the wind.

Peace. I smiled under the cool water.

I stayed there in the beautiful forests of my imagination until the burning in my chest forced me to return to reality to refill my lungs.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror with a new sense of determination.

_Ok, _I told myself. _I can do this. All I have to do is just move to a different place. I'll tell him that I can stay with a friend until I can come up with a more permanent solution. It shouldn't be hard to get a train ticket or something back to Chicago. And when I do, I'll stay with Josie for a few days until I could find other arrangements._

The plan was sounding better and better in my head and new hope sprang up in my chest. Any thought of how getting an apartment might be impossible because of my age was pushed out of my mind. As long as I could complete one part of my plan, the rest would eventually fall into place one way or another.

But first….I had to get out of the situation that I was currently in.

I slowly paced over to the door. I couldn't hear anything. I looked down the hall in the direction Dalca and the Spanish girl had gone and I could see a white carpet leading towards a window with open blue curtains hanging over it. It shed most of the light in the hall way as there weren't any lights on. The rest of the light in the hall way was green and the color came from the sunlight reflecting off of the walls in the room I was in. There were about six doors leading down this way, and four leading the opposite.

I gathered that each of the rooms – like the one that I was currently in – must be pretty good sized because of the length of the spacing between the doors.

I took another deep breath for courage and walked out and down the direction my host had gone. The plush carpet was soft and didn't irritate the cuts that were still healing on my feet.

As I passed the doors, I noticed that the designs in the wood fame around each one was different. I couldn't fathom why. All of them had words in a language I didn't recognize across the top.

I looked back at the door that I had just come out of. It had flowers carved intricately around the edges. Another looked like circuitry strangely enough. I prepared myself again mentally and started down the hallway towards the window. At the end there was a turn and it led to a set of stairs. It changed to hardwood and my bare feet made a thumping noise as I descended the steps.

I came into an open area that reminded me of a living room. I completely ignored the décor of the room because the only thing that came into focus was the vampire reclined in a blue leather Lay Z Boy…reading a worn copy of Lord of the Rings.

As I stood there dumbstruck by the oddly normal sight, he turned a page and said, "There is food in the kitchen," without looking up.

I glared and opened my mouth to say that I wasn't going to _touch _anything prepared by him, but my stomach gurgled a loud protest at the idea and I saw a smirk form on his lips.

I glared harder and his smirk grew. I glared and walked out of the room in a huff. If he was going to be like that I would deal with him later…when I wasn't on the verge of starvation.

Luckily the room I entered next was the kitchen. And it was as richly furnished and decorated as the rest of the house seemed to be. Not to mention _enormous._

My sense of smell was immediately bombarded by the smell of bacon and eggs. My stomach gurgled loudly in anticipation. I couldn't help but agree with it. The Spanish girl was at the stove poking at some sizzling bacon in a pan with a wooden spatula as she turned to look at me.

She smiled warmly at me and gestured at the table with the spatula.

"There's a plate for you right there and seconds if you want it."

I looked and boy was she right. There was a plate piled high with bacon, eggs, toast, strawberries bananas and all sorts of other fruit.

I stared for a second before I realized I was being rude.

"Oh, umm thank you." I said, feeling awkward and out of place.

I pushed all of the questions out of my mind for the moment and ate. And ate and ate and ate.

When I finally leaned back after a second serving, the Spanish girl laughed.

"Wow. You eat more than you look like you should be able to."

I smiled reluctantly and shrugged. "I was just really hungry."

She giggled a few more times and nodded her smile fading.

We sat there in a rather awkward silence for a few moments before she spoke up again.

"So, Natasha, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah?"

She waved a hand and leaned back on the counter. "What do you think?"

"Of the house I mean?" What an odd question to ask. It wasn't as if I was staying here very long anyway. "It's beautiful. It really is." My voice got kind of soft and dreamy. I've always had a thing for big, beautiful houses.

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah. I mean I haven't seen very much of it –and I probably never will—but from what I've seen so far it's very beautiful."

I liked the simple design and the blues and whites that seemed to be the prominent color theme of the house, excluding the room I had woken up in.

A velvety, accented voice sounded from the door. "Why do you assume that you will not see the rest of it?"

I turned and looked at him. I made my voice even and firm as I replied.

"Because I'm not going to be here for very long. I understand you made a deal with my father, but as long as he believes that you have me that's all that is required right?" I didn't wait for his reply. "So I'll just get my friend Josie to send me enough money for a train ticket and I'll be on my way to Chicago and I'll find my own place to stay."

He raised an eyebrow. "How are you going to take a train to Chicago from here?"

I felt my stomach sink a little bit. I had a very bad feeling that I was a little further away from home than I imagined myself to be. I thought that I might be on the west coast somewhere or maybe Florida. I was going off of the smell of the ocean that I caught through an open window back in the green room.

I saw the side of his mouth curve into a smirk, but it was gone the next second and I wasn't sure if I had seen it.

"We are currently on the island of Elba, just outside the small town of Biadola. It's off the western coast of Italy."

What he said didn't really register.

I was in Italy.

Hmm…. I had always wanted to go to Italy.

I could feel the panic rising and I tried to push it down; I knew I would never calm down if I began to panic.

But the thoughts were there.

How was I going to get home?

Who knew that I was here?

What was I going to do?

I could feel the adrenaline pump through my body making me feel jumpy.

I took a deep breath and met Dalca's eyes. I couldn't let him know I was afraid. Even though he could probably smell the fear coming off of me, I had to at least _act_ like I wasn't afraid of him.

"Ok. So, if you could give me access to a computer, I can contact Josie and ask her to help me book a flight home, and I'll be out of your hair for good." My voice shook a little at the end, so I cleared my throat to continue. "I'm sure my dad has left the house by now, so there's no one besides Josie who will know that I'm home."

He raised an eyebrow and I saw the side of his lips quirk in amusement.

"I will have your things brought here. If you like I can remodel one of the rooms in the house to suit your accommodations. Until then, you will be given a guest room to stay in and temporary clothes." He held my gaze as he said this with conviction as if daring me to argue. "Valencia will see to it that you have everything you need."

I just got angrier and angrier. Who does he think he is? There was no way in hell that I was staying here.

I just sniffed stiffly and looked nonchalantly at my nails. "I'm sorry but I am going to have to decline your request. I don't intend on staying here very long." I rose as gracefully as I could with the pain in my side. "I'll be gone in an hour. If you could just point me to the nearest computer…."

Dalca was suddenly looking down at me, having gotten right in my face. "You seem to have mistaken my words. _That was not a request._" I could hear the subtle accent in his voice but I ignored it.

I took a deep breath and reminded myself that slapping him would most likely lead to my death.

"You seem to also be mistaken...because you seem to think I'm staying here." I leaned into his face and spat my words with equal venom.

He was _not_ going to bully me into submission. I didn't care what he thought or whatever deal he made with my idiotic father. He does not own me.

He just looked over my head. "Valencia," he called stiffly. "If you would be so kind…" I could hear the implication in his voice that I was annoying him.

I heard a sigh from behind me. Then the Spanish girl, whose name was apparently Valencia, spoke in her accented voice.

"Dalca, you _could_ explain things to her, you know. If she's supposedly going to be living here for the rest of her life she should know the world she's entering."

Dalca snarled. "_You_ do not tell _me_ what to do." I could hear a faint accent in his voice again and I couldn't help but wonder where he was originally from.

I looked back at Valencia, expecting a look of fear or hurt in her face. But what I saw was nothing of the kind.

"Oh no, you_ do not _snarl at me!" Her eyes were defiant and fiery.

I stepped back staring wide eyed at her. Well, damn. She could certainly hold her own.

They stared each other down, neither blinking.

Finally, she rolled her eyes and made a shooing motion.

"Dalca, go away. I have to show her the temporary room she's going to keep anyway."

He stayed a little longer glaring at her. Then I realized that he was just doing it to be defiant. I blinked and I saw a blur but he was gone, having moved too fast for my eyes to register. It was like looking for lightning after it had struck.

I heard a sigh from Valencia again.

"Follow me. I'll show you where you'll be staying."

I thought about arguing. But I figured that on the way to the room I could look for an exit or a phone. Something. It didn't seem like Valencia would be able to help me….and I didn't know how loyal she was to Dalca. So I would have to tread lightly.

We walked out of the kitchen and across the living room area I had passed through earlier. The worn, dog eared, yellowed copy of Lord of the Rings was laying face down on one of the arms, but the seat was empty. I couldn't help but wonder where its owner had gone.

We walked through an open doorway that led to another dark hallway. The only source of light was a window at the end of the hall. My bare feet thumped against the wood floor as I followed her. We took a left…then a right….then another left. And a right.

As we continued on, I tried to remember a landmark to help myself find a way back to that open living room area at the least, since there didn't seem to be any doors leading outside. But there was practically nothing. There were only doors. These weren't carved like the ones I had seen in the hallway I had come down alone. They were plain…and didn't help me remember the way I had come; they were all identical. The walls were all a dark blue, a theme I noted seemed to be prevalent throughout the house. It lent everything an almost royal feel. But none of the halls had a single light in them. They were all lit with natural light…which meant that once dusk fell, the halls would be as black as pitch.

Valencia stopped and opened a door startling me from my thoughts. "This is where you'll be staying until Dalca has your room prepared." She walked in and I followed. The room was plain. Nice, but plain. The accent color was a lighter tan color. There was a bed against a far wall. A nightstand with a small lamp stood next to it and a window was next to it. Another door against a side wall made me think that a bathroom was there.

My eyes fell on Valencia and I realized she was watching me. She looked like she pitied me…..maybe I could use that? I wasn't above begging (as long as I wasn't begging _him_) to get back home.

"Please help me. I don't need much…please just point me to a door. I can find my own way." I gave her the most pitiful look I could muster.

She seemed to be debating with herself and she stared at me indecisively. She then glanced warily at the ceiling. I looked up there too and saw nothing. Suddenly her hand was on my shoulder and she pulled me close to whisper in my ear.

"I can't help you now. You're too new. He'd know that I had helped you." I had to strain to hear her low accented voice.

"But-" I tried to interrupt but her hand squeezed my shoulder.

"I did not say that I would not help you. Wait a week before you try. If you want even better chances wait for two weeks. While you're here, explore the house. You'll find a way out in that time. If you have not, I will show you a way." She pulled away from me slightly to look me in the eye as if making sure I understood what she had just said.

She then backed away from me and started towards the door. Was she leaving? Would I be left alone with in this huge house with Dalca? The thought panicked me. "Wait!" She turned. "Won't I see you again?"

She laughed her eyes were warm but I could see the pity for me in them. "Of course you will. I live here. But I cannot tell you anything more. Dalca knows I told you something, and if I stay any longer it the consequences for you will not be good."

"What about you?" I asked, suddenly worried for the girl who had been so generous without even knowing me.

She laughed and her smile turned slightly menacing. "Dalca has another thing coming to him if he tries to punish me…..good night."

I stared after her. Her words confused me to no end. Wasn't she human like me? How the hell did she manage to have a relationship where he couldn't punish her if? I couldn't understand.

I looked around the room. There was nothing here to keep me occupied. Not a single book, or magazine or even a T.V. I sighed and went over to look in the bathroom. It was nice, like everything in the house seemed to be, but it wasn't as nice as the green toned one in the room I had woken up in. But this one had exactly what I was looking for.

A huge, high lipped tub sat in one corner of the bathroom. I started the water and sat there to wait. Then, inspiration struck me. I left the bathroom and dashed to the window. I shoved the curtains aside and slid the window up. It was small, not small enough for me to get stuck if I ever tried to escape this way, but it was a tight fit. But I wasn't aiming for escape. Valencia's words weighed heavily on my mind and it didn't make sense for her to risk herself helping me only for me to get caught so I decided to trust what she had told me.

I leaned out the window to try and get an idea of where I was. I was looking at a very dark landscape…it was the shadow of the house (mansion?) that I was in. It disappeared over the edge of something and beyond that I could see water.

Since the sun was behind me, then the direction I was looking was east. At least I had some sort of bearing. I looked around trying to see where I was. I was 2 stories up and it was far too high to jump. Below my window there was a huge expanse of grass. And I could see what looked like a horse off in the distance. After that I was pretty sure the grass ended in a cliff because I got a small glimpse of shining Mediterranean before it melded into the black sky. I hoped that there was a back road on the other side of the house or something because that was all I could see from this side of the house.

I pulled my head back in the window but left it open. I went back to the bathroom shedding clothes as I went. _Think about it later. _I told myself. _If I'm going to follow Valencia's advice I'll have time. _

I turned the water off and slowly stepped into the steaming water. My skin tingled and I sighed at the feel of the heat. It was almost too hot to stand it, but it that was exactly how I liked it. I finally sat and submerged myself completely for as long as I could, letting my mind go blank. I came up and then scrubbed myself as much as I could, hoping that if I did I could feel some semblance of normalcy again. After I finished, I leaned back and let my mind drift. I imagined myself back home, in my own room, in my own tub…

I jerked awake a moment later, splashing myself in the face. I forced my slippery, pruning hands to grip the sides of the tub to steady myself. I looked around disoriented for a moment, trying to remember where I was.

Then it all rushed back to me.

I felt my reality shift and I suddenly had to move. I had to curl up somewhere and hide from all of this!

I hauled myself out of the water and barely made it out of the tub without tripping and cracking my head open. I grabbed a towel hanging from a rack and barely managed to dry myself before the tears started. I started to dry my hair, but it was still damp when I threw the towel across the room and fled from the bathroom with tears flowing down my cheeks.

The bedroom was dark and it took me a moment to locate my clothes with only the light from the moon coming in through the open window. I pulled on my panties and wrestled the borrowed shirt over my head, trying to save the real sobs for later. I kicked the door closed and dove for the bed.

I curled up under the covers and finally let myself cry.

Arron needed to be here. _Now._ My control was slipping and I couldn't let myself go after the girl. Something in me took serious issue with the image of her with her limp and still in my arms with her blood slipping from my fang marks in her neck.

But I was conflicted. That image was unbearably enticing and everything rational pointed towards that course of action…and yet something within me resisted.

I growled and turned to check my notifications. I hadn't checked them during the months it took me to hunt down the assassins and wheedle information that I had already known out of them.

I touched the panel of glass that I had fashioned into a touch sensitive computer screen. I shifted through the unimportant things, ignoring the various invitations to important dinners…until I came across one that gave me pause.

_Damn,_ I thought. I was staring at an invitation to the bi-centennial Blue Blood ball. I called it by its other more appropriate name: The Bloody Masquerade.

I swore under my breath. There was no way that I could potentially skip it. The senate would be there and I had to remind them the reason they didn't meddle with my affairs. They absolutely detested when I attended senate-hosted events and the feeling was mutual seeing as how I despised them and their events. However they never tired of irking me by sending me an invitation, not to mention I had to periodically show up with knowledge of all their carefully concealed plans to make sure that they knew that they couldn't pull one over on me.

I paused for a moment hearing the low murmuring coming from below me. I listened. It was Valencia, I could hear that much and that she was talking to Natasha. I couldn't hear the exact words; they were more than two floors below me. But I knew what was being said. Valencia could not –in good conscience—leave the girl there alone and frightened.

When the girl attempted her escape I would be waiting. I would have to watch her. She wouldn't get very far, considering the people of the town Biadola had a rather vicious fear of me. To them I was a living nightmare. They told no one of me and in exchange, I was alerted if one of my own kind passed through the town. I also didn't hunt on the island out of courtesy.

I ran my hand through my hair agitatedly.

The arrival of the girl had unduly complicated things. I had to eventually track down her father to wheedle whatever he knew of the Senate out of him and end his miserable life. And then there was the issue of what to do about my younger sister. She had a tendency to, well….dispose of company she didn't approve of. And I honestly did not wish to clash with her over Natasha. But if my sister insisted on killing her, I was going to have to stop her.

I began to pace agitatedly. I again heard the little whisper in my mind. _The girl is right below you…she wouldn't mind if you tasted a little more of her. She enjoyed it last time….and then you can claim her….just a little taste…_

My damn instincts. The little voice was part of me. I could no more separate myself from it than I could pull my own heart out. But I could ignore it…..as long as I satisfied my hunger properly.

My instincts had been continually pushing me to do things that I would and could never do with the girl. Things that worried me…because I knew that if it was whispered at the back of my mind for too long I would succumb inevitably. And that was not an acceptable outcome. My instincts were pushing me to go and taste her again. I could remember what she tasted like; her absurdity enticing smell still lingered on the clothes that I had changed out of earlier and thrown into a corner. I would have had no problem with doing this….except that I didn't think that I would be able to stop. Her blood pulled at me like nothing else and I was unbearably drawn to her. And therein laid the other issue. The same instincts that clamored for the red liquid flowing through her veins also clamored for something that I refused to acknowledge out of the sheer absurdity of the idea. There was simply no way that such a thing was possible….and hence my reason for speaking to Arron.

I was startled at the beeping of an alarm. I looked up and darted to the glass on the wall that served as a computer screen. SECURTY BREACH in red letters was emblazoned across the screen.

Shock filtered through me. The only one who had the power to break the kind of security we had was….Arron. A shiver floated down my spine.

I heard the tap of the trap door that led to my room opening and the scent of my sister Cecilia floated to me half a second before she was at my side.

I spoke to her in our native tongue. "Cecilia, you know who this is right?"

She gave me a dubious look, her white irises tinted light lavender. "Of course," she answered back with her usual snark. She turned back to the screen of her modified iPad "I am the one who designed the security system." She frowned at the screen that was overly bright in the dimness of my room. "I just wish that he could send us a message the normal way other than scaring the shit out of me and cracking our security system wide open…." Her fingers flew across the screen and she looked up and tapped the glass on my wall two times.

"There, that should do it," she muttered. The beeping stopped and suddenly my room was plunged into almost complete darkness as every screen in my room went black…including Cecilia's iPad screen.

"Damn!" She swore luridly and immediately worked on getting it back up and running.

Then my retinas burned as the screens came back with a blinding white light and then blanked out again….leaving me momentarily blinded. When I could see again, a message in spiraling red script was being written across the glass panel in front of me.

2 weeks

It stayed for a minute and then disappeared returning my interface screen.

We both stood there in silence, both of us thinking. I was mildly pleased and at the same time worried. I hadn't honestly expected Arron to make an appearance. I needed to speak to him desperately about the situation…but I hadn't expected him to actually appear for another 2 o 3 years. He only appeared when monumental events were going to take place. The last time he had made a true appearance had been during the Spanish Civil war….which had preceded the Second World War

It worried me immensely that he was showing up in two weeks…because his arrival coincided with the Bloody Masquerade.

"Two weeks?" Cecilia's voice made me turn to her. Her nearly white eyes were on my face. "What's in two weeks?"

"The Bloody Masquerade." My voice was quiet. My mind was racing. If his arrival directly before the Bloody Masquerade was predicting something…it meant we had to prepare for something tantamount to the last world war among our own kind.

I looked to Cecilia, knowing that she would have reached the same conclusion. She nodded in comprehension. "I will call for a counsel. Is a week a good time?"

I nodded absently and turned away again. There would be much to do in the next few days.

* * *

**Ok. So hi. Believe it or not I am still alive and kicking. A good chunk of this story was written a while ago...but then it got erased by my annoying laptop and I was pretty upset that I had to rewrite about 8 pages so I kind of gave up for a while. And then a friend gave me a good metaphorical kick, saying that she wanted to know what happened to "what's his face" in my story I was writing...and it upset me that she had forgotten his name. . Then of course there were some other kicks from a peacesaveslol (btw, i actually kept your note as new to remind myself.^_^) and today from a ****BroskkiD. Thank you guys as well as any others who have sent me reminders over the months to get my ass in gear. I apologize for the lack of story and I will honestly try my hardest to keep writing. I am still in school and it seemed that every moment I would get on my computer to write, there would be a paper to write instead of this story. I think about it a lot. I KNOW what will happen next and the order that it will happen...it's just not all written yet. While the next chapter is partially written, it will be a little while until it goes up. I cannot promise consistent updates and for this I do apologize, but I can say that I will attempt have the next chapter up before a two month period has elapsed. If this is not good enough for you (the few that are left from my absence...) then I understand. Until then, even thought this is kind of a filler (to me at least) I hope it manages to tide you over until the next one goes up. **

**Once more, reviews really are food for thought. Seriously. If you liked something, please tell me what. It will make me think about the story more. It doesn't have to be epic, just a sentence or two really helps out. You may not think so but it seriously does. So please just click the little link. **

**Until next time,**

** Silver**


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